Children
See also Children's Rights in the Human Rights section and search for child* in OBL
Websites/Multiple Documents
Description:
About 661,000 results
Source/publisher:
Various sources via Youtube
Date of entry/update:
2017-08-20
Grouping:
Websites/Multiple Documents
Category:
Children
Language:
English, Burmese (မြန်မာဘာသာ)
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Description:
Articles on this category from the collections of Burmanet News
Source/publisher:
Burmanet News
Date of entry/update:
2016-02-29
Grouping:
Websites/Multiple Documents
Category:
Children, Children's rights: reports of violations in Burma against more than one ethnic group
Language:
English
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Description:
Reports (text and video), international standards.... "Children in Myanmar have been widely used in armed conflict by both state armed forces and non-state armed groups. Despite a minimum age of 18 for military recruitment, over the years many hundreds of boys have been recruited, often forcibly into the national army (Tatmadaw Kyi) and deployed to areas where state forces have been fighting armed opposition groups. Border guard forces, composed of former members of armed opposition groups and formally under the command of the Myanmar military, also have under-18s in their ranks.
In June 2012, after protracted negotiations with the UN, the Myanmar government signed up to an action plan under which it has committed to release all under-18s present from Tatmadaw Kyi and border guard forces.
Child recruitment and use by armed opposition groups is also reported. These include: the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), Kachin Independence Army (KIA), Karen National Union/Karen National Liberation Army (KNU/KNLA), Karenni National Progressive Party/Karenni Army (KNPP/KA), Shan State Army South (SSA-S), United Wa State Army (UWSA). The KNU/KNLA and KNPP/KA have sought to conclude action plans on child soldiers with the UN, but the UN has been prevented from doing so by the Government of Myanmar.
"Our current work in Myanmar aims to:
Identify legal, policy and practical measures needed to end child recruitment and use by Tatmadaw Kyi and border guard forces, and to advocate for full and effective implementation of the action plan.
Seek tangible progress on armed opposition groups? compliance with international standards on child soldiers..."
Source/publisher:
Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers
Date of entry/update:
2015-08-04
Grouping:
Websites/Multiple Documents
Category:
Children's rights: reports of violations in Burma against more than one ethnic group, Children and armed conflict, Children
Language:
English, Burmese (မြန်မာဘာသာ)
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Description:
Link to the OBL Migrant section
Source/publisher:
Online Burma/Myanmar Library
Date of entry/update:
2012-04-23
Grouping:
Websites/Multiple Documents
Language:
English
more
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Websites/Multiple Documents
Language:
English
more
Description:
The most substantial material on the site is in the Media Centre, and includes: a pdf document in Burmese: "Questions and Answers on HIV and AIDS"... "The State of the World's Children 2005 - Children under threat" in English, (and in the same box a link to what should be a Burmese version, but since this is 56 pages rather than the 164 of the English, I have doubts)... "Progress For Children
A Child Survival Report Card" in English, with The Foreword, Child Survival, and the East Asia and Pacific sections in Burmese... a "Myanmar Reporter's Manual" (65 pages)in English and Burmese versions:
"This manual provides instruction on international-standard reporting skills, child-focused reporting and ethics for Myanmar journalists in accordance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child." then there is a glossy, 28-page "UNICEF in Myanmar - Protecting Lives, Nurturing Dreams" in English.....In the For Children and Youth section is an illustrated and simplified aticle-by-article version of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and a couple of illustrated online books for young children and their families in English and Burmese. Under Youth Web Links there English language animations (I suppose) called "Top 10 Cartoons for Children's Rights" but I could not get them to work. Also links to several other UNICEF and UN young people's sites. The "Activities" and "Real Lives" sections deal with UNICEF's activities in the country.
Source/publisher:
UNICEF
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Websites/Multiple Documents
Category:
Children's rights: reports of violations in Burma against more than one ethnic group, Children, UN agencies
Language:
English
more
Description:
News stories, reports.
Source/publisher:
United Nations Childrfen?s Fund (UNICEF)
Date of entry/update:
2016-09-01
Grouping:
Websites/Multiple Documents
Category:
UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund), Children
Language:
English, Burmese (မြန်မာဘာသာ)
more
Description:
Has UNICEF reports on Myanmar for the last few years
Source/publisher:
UNICEF
Date of entry/update:
2018-03-21
Grouping:
Websites/Multiple Documents
Category:
Children
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Description:
These results are for 2015. Change search options in column on the left...Search for Myanmar. 464 results (November 2001). 819 in May 2005, 1749 in 2015. Images and substantial documents.
Source/publisher:
United Nations Children?s Fund (UNICEF)
Date of entry/update:
2015-08-04
Grouping:
Websites/Multiple Documents
Category:
Children's rights: reports of violations in Burma against more than one ethnic group, Children, UN agencies
Language:
English
more
Description:
Press Releases, UN reports and actions and other documents and updates from 2003 on children and armed conflict in Myanmar...includes links to Security Council material
Source/publisher:
Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict
Date of publication:
2013-05-01
Date of entry/update:
2015-08-04
Grouping:
Websites/Multiple Documents
Category:
Children and armed conflict, Children, Children's rights: reports of violations in Burma against more than one ethnic group
Language:
English, Burmese/ မြန်မာဘာသာ
more
Individual Documents
Description:
"Myanmar logged a total of 111 human trafficking cases in its states and regions last year, state-run media reported Tuesday, quoting the Anti-Trafficking Police Force's figures as saying.
During the whole 2020, 167 people including 39 young girls were victimized while 339 traffickers were charged in connection with the cases.
Regionally, Shan state registered with 37 cases, followed by Yangon region with 30 cases as well as Mandalay region and Kachin state with 10 cases each, among others.
There were 22 domestic trafficking in persons in terms of forced labor, prostitution and forced marriage during the period.
In 2019, 358 people including 297 females were victimized in connection with 239 human trafficking cases across the country.
Under the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Law, people who smuggle women and children are sentenced to at least 10 years or up to lifetime sentence or fine while money or property received through trafficking will be confiscated by the government..."
Source/publisher:
"Xinhua" (China)
Date of publication:
2021-01-05
Date of entry/update:
2021-01-06
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Trafficking: Burma-specific material, Smuggling of people - Burma-Myanmar related, Trafficking: global, regional and national reports, Articles, reports and sites relating to women of Burma, Children
Language:
more
Description:
"With scores of children killed and maimed each year in Myanmar’s long-running ethnic wars, and hundreds conscripted as laborers, the government is setting up a national complaint mechanism for reporting violence and sexual crimes against minors in regions under conflict, officials said.
Myanmar, whose military has been at war with ethnic armies fighting for autonomy since the country gained independence from Britain in 1948, has struggled to shed a reputation for use of child soldiers. It signed an action plan with the U.N. in 2012 to prevent the recruitment and use of children as soldiers.
In 2019, Myanmar’s Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement set up a Committee on the Prevention of Grave Violations against Children in Armed Conflict and enacted a Child Rights Law to align its national policies and regulations with the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child.
The committee submitted a national action plan for protecting children in armed conflicts from injury, death and sexual violence to President Win Myint's office on June 3, said Win Naing Tun, director-general of the ministry’s Rehabilitation Department.
“We are waiting for approval,” he told RFA’s Myanmar Service. “If it is approved, we will start accepting complaints. Then, we will make assessments along with relevant organizations.”
Win Myat Aye, Myanmar’s minister of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement, will oversee the process, which will include officials from the home affairs and defense services ministries who will take action against perpetrators of violence against children, Win Naing Tun said.
They also will work with U.N. groups or the Country Task Force on Monitoring and Reporting (CTFMR), co-chaired by UNICEF and the highest U.N. representative in-country, on the implementation phase and awareness-raising campaigns, he added.
The U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child, which Myanmar ratified in 1991, prohibits all forms of violence against children under the age of 18. It also criminalizes grave violations against children and grants them legal protections..."
Source/publisher:
"RFA" (USA)
Date of publication:
2020-07-22
Date of entry/update:
2020-07-22
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Children, Children's rights: reports of violations in Burma against more than one ethnic group
Language:
more
Description:
"Myanmar's military has been unlisted from recruitment and use of children as soldiers in military services since June 9 this year, an official from the Ministry of Defence told a press briefing on Monday.
"Myanmar's military has put efforts for ending the recruitment and use of children as soldiers in military services under a joint action plan since it was signed with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) in 2012," said Brigadier General Aung Kyaw Hoe, permanent secretary of the Ministry of Defence.
During the four-year period, a total of 3,802 officers were provided training courses to prevent recruiting and using children as soldiers in military services and 262 children were released from the military services, he said.
Myanmar's military has released 1,006 children from the military services and 65 officials have been charged for recruiting and using children as soldiers in military services since a joint action plan started in 2012..."
Source/publisher:
"Xinhua" (China)
Date of publication:
2020-06-22
Date of entry/update:
2020-06-25
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Children, The Military's political role
Language:
more
Sub-title:
Violence against children increased sixfold in first three months of 2020 compared with the last three months of 2019.
Description:
"The escalation in fighting between Myanmar's military and ethnic Rakhine rebels in recent months has triggered a surge in violence against children and left some villagers facing starvation.
The humanitarian group, Save the Children, said in a report on Tuesday that the conflict in the far west of Myanmar has left children increasingly exposed.
"The widespread use of mines and improvised explosive devices poses a specific threat to children," Duncan Harvey, Save the Children's top official in Myanmar, said in a statement. "The numbers paint a stark picture," Harvey said, pointing to the report, which verified dozens of incidents of children being killed or maimed.
Between January and March this year in the central part of Rakhine State alone, 18 children were killed and 71 children were physically injured or maimed, according to the report. In comparison, there were three recorded cases of children being killed and 12 others injured between October-December 2019..."
Source/publisher:
"Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
Date of publication:
2020-06-23
Date of entry/update:
2020-06-23
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Armed conflict in Rakhine (Arakan) State, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Children
Language:
more
Description:
"The United Nations agencies, funds and programmes are continuing to provide strong support to the Government of Myanmar’s efforts to prepare and respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Testing remains one of the most effective ways of quick identification of cases, ensuring medical support for people who contracted the virus and immediate isolation to prevent its spread. Whilst providing supporting on preparedness and response across a broad range of areas, the United Nations in Myanmar has given specific emphasis to supporting the Government to increase its testing capacity.
Since the first recorded confirmed case in Myanmar, the United Nations has come together to mount a collective response to boost support to the Government of Myanmar’s testing strategy and has handed over 73,000 test kits to the Ministry of Health and Sports and its relevant laboratory facilities.
The first batch of 3,000 test reagents provided by the World Health Organization and its partners arrived in country late March. The Access to Health Fund, funded by the United Kingdom, Sweden, United States and Switzerland and managed by the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) has handed over more than 55,000 test kits in two separate batches, complimented by 20,000 more test kits procured by United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), also delivered in two batches during the last two months. The Access to Health Fund also delivered two automated sample extraction machines to the National Health Laboratory to improve the accuracy of testing.
United Nations support to respond to COVID-19 has also focused on providing protection for frontline healthcare workers and communities, support to strengthening existing capacities across various levels of government and at grassroots level to effectively prepare and respond, risk communication and community engagement, and ensuring continuity of ongoing development, and humanitarian programming.
Central to the UN’s collective response has been the launch of the World Food Programme’s (WFP) weekly aid flights between Yangon to Kuala Lumpur in light of the temporary suspension of commercial flights. Initially funded by the European Union and Switzerland, these WFP flights have facilitated the regular delivery to Myanmar of supplies, including test kits and other vital equipment, and the arrival of humanitarian and development personnel..."
Source/publisher:
OCHA (New York) via Reliefweb (New York)
Date of publication:
2020-06-11
Date of entry/update:
2020-06-11
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Children
Language:
Format :
pdf pdf
Size:
144.51 KB 195.26 KB
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Sub-title:
Testimonies reveal harrowing details of life on ships, as Malaysia detains more than 200 Rohingya found off Langkawi.
Description:
"Left to starve for months at sea, Rohingya children who escaped Bangladesh's refugee camps took "desperate" journeys to reach Malaysia on flimsy smuggling boats, according to a new report released as it emerged Malaysian authorities had detained nearly 300 Rohingya trying to reach the country by sea.
Testimonies by refugee children, who were rescued from a boat found adrift in the Bay of Bengal in April, revealed how they were beaten and forced to watch their parents' bodies thrown overboard. UN's Guterres asks Bangladesh to move Rohingya to refugee camps
First coronavirus case found in Bangladesh Rohingya refugee camps
Bangladesh quarantines hundreds of Rohingya rescued from sea
"It is clear that Rohingya families are still so desperate that they are ready to make dangerous journeys, often at the mercy of criminal organisations," Hassan Saadi Noor, Asia Regional Director of Save the Children, which compiled the report, said in a statement.
Hassan is urging countries across the region "to share the responsibility" of both protecting and providing for the Rohingya, while also working with Myanmar to find a long-term solution to this crisis.
"As long as Rohingya do not see a future for themselves, families will continue to make dangerous journeys and put themselves in harm's way in search of a better life," Hassan said..."
Source/publisher:
"Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
Date of publication:
2020-06-09
Date of entry/update:
2020-06-09
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Children, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Discrimination against the Rohingya
Language:
more
Description:
"Vaccinations for children have resumed after a temporary pause due to COVID-19, but some parents aren’t yet taking their children to be vaccinated, because they have a fear of crowding and a lack of hygiene at the hospitals.
We take a look at the precautions being taken to ensure the health and safety of parents and infants at Myanmar’s vaccination clinics.
Doh Athan is a weekly podcast which looks at human rights issues, produced by Frontier with media partners from around the country, through a partnership with Fondation Hirondelle. It is supported by the Embassy of the Netherlands in Myanmar and the Swiss Agency for Development Cooperation..."
Source/publisher:
"Frontier Myanmar" (Myanmar)
Date of publication:
2020-06-05
Date of entry/update:
2020-06-05
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Children
Language:
more
Description:
"Today, 1.16 million doses of routine immunization vaccines funded by the Ministry of Health and Sports and procured through UNICEF arrived at the Yangon International airport, to support the resumption of immunization services across Myanmar. The UNICEF chartered cargo flight arranged with the cooperation of Scanned Global Logistics also brought the second batch of 10,000 COVID-19 test kits and other supplies as part of UNICEF’s ongoing support to the Ministry of Health and Sports (MoHS) to scale up testing capacity and fight the pandemic.
Since March 2020, routine childhood immunization services have been disrupted on a global scale that may be unprecedented since the inception of the expanded programme on immunization (EPI) in the 1970s. Similarly, in Myanmar, routine immunization services were temporarily halted from 1st April by the Ministry of Health and Sports, to allow the health sector to focus on its COVID-19 prevention and response activities and to maintain physical distancing measures to contain the spread of the virus.
However, the resumption of immunisation services was carefully planned and prepared for, taking account of essential infection prevention measures, alongside standard operational guidelines for health workers, and instructions for care takers to follow. With minimum community transmission in the country, where the confirmed cases are from quarantine sites, routine immunization was resumed in Government hospitals across the country from 18th May and will re-commence in rural health centres and communities from 1st June 2020.
“The Ministry of Health and Sports will continue vaccination services not only for all the eligible children who missed the regular doses in April and May, but also for the children who missed any of the routine vaccinations for other reasons in the past. We would like to request care takers to cooperate with health workers, to follow the recommended infection prevention and control measures, social distancing and hand hygiene measures when attending the vaccination clinics so that all the children are vaccinated safely and can stay away from COVID-19,” said Dr. Myint Htwe, Minister of Health and Sports.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, immunization sessions need a customized approach where services are provided following relevant infection prevention and control and safety measures associated with COVID-19. To minimize the risks of infection for health staff and community members, immunization posts will administer vaccines to an average of 50 children per day to ensure the vaccination posts are systematically organized in line with the recommended measures for COVID-19 prevention.
“COVID-19 is an eye-opener for all of us; it proves that outbreaks can happen in many countries all at the same time. Similarly, vaccine preventable diseases, like measles can re-surge at any time if coverage goes down. Therefore, Myanmar is taking a commendable step in resuming childhood vaccinations now,” said Dr. Stephan Paul Jost, WHO Representative to Myanmar..."
Source/publisher:
UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) (Myanmar) via Reliefweb (New York)
Date of publication:
2020-06-02
Date of entry/update:
2020-06-02
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
more
Description:
"Child protection case management continues for communities
In Myanmar, the Department of Social Welfare (DSW) and UNICEF’s implementing partners remain active responding to child protection cases in communities. Due to lockdown and semi-lockdown, inter-township and state movement restrictions and other public health measures, DSW case managers and NGO case workersface challenges in mobilizing necessary services for affected children and families, as well as keeping themselves safe from the virus.
Although logistical and operational difficulties have had some impact on the efficiency of case management response DSW case managers have followed up cases of child sexual abuse in family quarantine and in the townships under lockdown. With DSW case managers called on to coordinate support for children and women in quarantine centres in many States and Regions, DSW case managers’ capacity to respond to child protection cases was stretched.
Nevertheless, DSW case managers and NGO case workers have responded to 66 child protection cases in Kachin, Shan and Rakhine in April. A number that has increased when compared with the previous three months of the year.
Capacity building for the Government of Myanmar and civil society
After 13 online sessions over three weeks of May, UNICEF and Save the Children (SCI) have concluded the first round of training on two guidance notes for adapting case management and alternative care interventions in the context of COVID-19. A total of 243 frontline workers (188 females and 55 males) from government and non-government organizations across 10 regions and states received the training. The feedback from the trainings has been positive and frontline workers provided valuable insights on their areas of priority in responding to the pandemic. Current priority is given to raising community awareness of COVID-19 and ensuring those in need are referred to appropriate health care services. The findings also highlight gatekeeping and facilitating appropriate alternative care for children as the lowest priority. UNICEF will tailor further trainings and support accordingly to ensure the provision of high value technical assistance during the pandemic, as well as to ensure capacity building in areas where frontline workers have highlighted as being a lower priority. This initiative is supported by the Government of Canada..."
Source/publisher:
UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) (Myanmar) via Reliefweb (New York)
Date of publication:
2020-06-02
Date of entry/update:
2020-06-02
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
more
Description:
"Globally, the COVID-19 pandemic continues to claim lives and livelihoods. And the crisis is battering essential services that secure the education and protection of children, often with deadly costs. The most vulnerable children – such as those affected by poverty, exclusion or family violence – are facing even greater risks, cut off from existing support.
In Myanmar, the socio-economic impact of COVID-19 could affect public financing and result in a reduced level of services provided by the Government. Thus, with the COVID-19 outbreak still unfolding and as the Union Parliament examines the supplementary budget, the importance of allocating sufficient resources to address the short and long-term impacts of COVID-19 on children’s health, well-being, development and prospects cannot be stressed enough. Investment in social services (particularly in health, disaster management, social welfare and education programmes) that overwhelmingly depend on the allocations of the Union Budget, is the first line of action in response to the COVID-19 crisis..."
Source/publisher:
UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) (Myanmar) via Reliefweb (New York)
Date of publication:
2020-05-31
Date of entry/update:
2020-06-01
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
861.81 KB
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Description:
"Myanmar authorities are preparing a project plan regarding preventive measures and response to COVID-19 for street children, according to the Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement on Wednesday.
"Our plan can't cover the whole country in present fiscal year and as an initial step, we will start our plan in the cities with most street children like Yangon and Mandalay," Dr. Tun Zaw, deputy director general of the rehabilitation department under the ministry, told Xinhua.
Adding that efforts are being exerted to produce an effective plan, the authorities are trying to know what the street children need or what kind of support should be given to them while the awareness plans are underway to convert the preventive measures and instructions issued by the Health and Sports Ministry into the words and usages that the children can relate to, he said.
A negotiation meeting relating to the project plan was held on Tuesday to work on the protection, rehabilitation and response to COVID-19 for street children community.
During the meeting, discussions were made focusing on access to water sanitation, personal hygiene, nutritious diets for street children and their families, awareness campaign for COVID-19, vocational assistance, provision of masks, hand gel and other assistances to the street children during the period of virus outbreak in the country.
Myanmar has reported a total of 193 confirmed cases for COVID-19 with six deaths as of Wednesday morning, according to figures released by the Health and Sports Ministry..."
Source/publisher:
"Xinhua" (China)
Date of publication:
2020-05-20
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-21
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Children
Language:
more
Description:
"The Tatmadaw (military) has punished 65 officers and soldiers who were found guilty of recruiting child soldiers, according to a recently released four-year report by the Ministry of Defence.
It said that 28 officers and 37 soldiers were punished but gave no details of their punishment.
The report said that since 2012, the Tatmadaw had discharged 1006 soldiers found to be 18-years-old or younger. The ministry said that to prevent the recruitment and use of children in the Tatmadaw, it had been complying with the Joint Action Plan with the UN Country Task Force on Monitoring and Reporting since 2012.
It said that 681 officers and 3121 soldiers across the country have undergone training to implement the Joint Action Plan in compliance with UN Security Council Resolution 1612, which mandates UN-led task forces in countries where there is evidence of grave violations committed against children by armed forces or armed groups.
The task force establishes a monitoring and reporting mechanism that documents, verifies and reports to the Security Council grave violations, such as the killing or maiming of children.
Other such violations include recruitment and use of children in armed forces and armed groups, attacks on schools or hospitals, rape or other grave sexual violence, abduction of children, and denial of humanitarian access to children..."
Source/publisher:
"Myanmar Times" (Myanmar)
Date of publication:
2020-04-28
Date of entry/update:
2020-04-28
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Child soldiers, Children
Language:
more
Description:
"As part of the preparedness and response to COVID-19 in Myanmar, UNICEF is working with partners to suspend or reorient activities to mitigate the risk to beneficiaries and partner staff. Life-saving activities continue.
• UNICEF is scaling up handwashing facilities, risk communication and protection activities as part of the COVID19 response.
• Fighting in Rakhine and Shan States continue to cause displacement and increasing needs; access remains extremely limited to these populations.
• Reports of grave violations of child rights continue to be recorded, affecting at least 80 children thus far in 2020.
Situation in Numbers
- 362,000 children in need of humanitarian assistance (HNO 2020)
- 986,000 people in need (HNO 2020)
- 274,000 internally displaced people (HNO 2020)
- 470,000 non-displaced stateless in Rakhine
Funding Overview and Partnerships
UNICEF appeals for US$46 million to sustain provision of critical and life-saving services for children and their caregivers in Myanmar. UNICEF/Myanmar received $454,270 from the Government of Denmark and an allocation of $1 million from global Humanitarian Thematic funding from Headquarters. These generous unearmarked contributions allow UNICEF to allocate funds to the areas of greatest need. Details of UNICEF’s budget requirements can be found in Annex B below and include significant needs for all of UNICEF/Myanmar’s ongoing emergency programmes including Child Protection, WASH, Health, Nutrition and Education..."
Source/publisher:
UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) (New York) via Reliefweb (New York)
Date of publication:
2020-04-19
Date of entry/update:
2020-04-28
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund), Children
Language:
more
Description:
"With shock and sadness 16 humanitarian organizations received the news of a fatal shooting incident involving a vehicle of the World Health Organization (WHO) carrying COVID-19 test samples in Rakhine State.
We express our sincere condolences to the family and UN colleagues of Mr Pyae Sone Win Maung, the WHO driver who did not survive the incident, and wish the injured official from the Ministry of Health and Sports (MoHS) a swift recovery.
The incident in Minbya Township on April 20th demonstrates of the urgent need for armed actors in Myanmar to lay down their weapons, heeding the call of the UN Secretary general for a global ceasefire.
The ongoing conflict in Myanmar’s Rakhine and Chin States between the Tatmadaw and the Arakan Army is causing an increasing number of civilian casualties, while severely hampering access to healthcare as well as other efforts to reach communities with much needed assistance in the midst of a global pandemic.
Across the globe and in Myanmar, millions of frontline health workers, humanitarian staff and other key workers are trying to contain the spread of the COVID 19 virus. We must support each and every one of these courageous people, and keep them safe from harm..."
Source/publisher:
"Save the Children" (London)
Date of publication:
2020-04-22
Date of entry/update:
2020-04-27
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Children, COVID-19 (Coronavirus)
Language:
more
Sub-title:
Diseases like coronavirus pose a big risk to refugees. But proper handwashing practices can help keep the threat in check.
Description:
"round the world, communities have been taking precautions to help slow the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and keep their families safe, including by practicing physical distancing.
But for the more than 850,000 Rohingya refugees from Myanmar living in cramped conditions in what is effectively the world’s largest refugee camp, keeping some distance from other members of the community is easier said than done. Many refugees live in flimsy bamboo and tarpaulin shelters where the dangers of everyday life remain all too real, including the high risk of the spread of infectious diseases.
This doesn’t mean that there aren’t precautions those living in Cox’s Bazar can take to minimize the risk of contracting diseases like COVID-19. In fact, many of the children there have already been doing one of the most important things they can to protect themselves: washing their hands thoroughly and regularly. Two and a half years ago, Rohingya children arriving in the camps had little or no access to basic water or sanitation facilities. UNICEF and partners moved quickly to establish basic water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services, helping to contain the risk of a major disease outbreak.
In addition, by the end of 2019, UNICEF had set up around 2,500 learning centres, each equipped with a handwashing station providing soap and clean water, which made it possible to reach hundreds of thousands of Rohingya children with lessons on good health and hygiene – including how to wash their hands properly.
Even though the learning centres have been temporarily shut as a precaution against COVID-19, UNICEF continues to distribute essential supplies through its WASH programme, providing safe water and soap for around 240,000 Rohingya refugees – over half of whom are children..."
Source/publisher:
UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) (New York)
Date of publication:
2020-04-01
Date of entry/update:
2020-04-27
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
more
Description:
"A surge in fighting between the Myanmar military and insurgents has killed at least 32 civilians, mostly women and children, in the restive Rakhine and Chin states, the U.N. human rights office said on Friday, adding the military had destroyed homes and schools.
Myanmar’s military denies targeting civilians and a spokesman on Friday declined to respond to the allegations.
The Arakan Army, an insurgent group seeking greater autonomy for the region, has been battling government troops for more than a year.
“Myanmar’s military has been carrying out almost daily air strikes and shelling in populated areas resulting in at least 32 deaths and 71 injuries since 23 March, the majority women and children, and they have also been destroying and burning schools and homes,” U.N. human rights office spokesman Rupert Colville told a Geneva news briefing.
He later said that the 32 were civilians..."
Source/publisher:
"Reuters" (UK)
Date of publication:
2020-04-17
Date of entry/update:
2020-04-27
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Children, Women of Burma -- bibliographies, Children's rights: reports of violations in Burma against more than one ethnic group, Armed conflict in Rakhine (Arakan) State
Language:
more
Description:
"A high-level Government ceremony in Sittwe, Rakhine State, marked the end of the Education Post Flood Response which ran for four years following Cyclone Komen in 2015. Led by the Ministry of Education with the support of the Government of Japan and UNICEF, the programme benefitted over 300,000 children in Rakhine and Chin states, reaching some for the first time.
A major achievement of the programme was the construction, repair and rehabilitation of 78 schools in Rakhine State with a provision of 37,350 roofing sheets to a further 263 schools in both Rakhine and Chin States. In addition, over 11,000 teachers were provided with training on a more inclusive approach to teaching and learning in the classrooms in both states. This included volunteer teachers from camps for the Internally Displaced Persons receiving for the first time the government-led Child Friendly School teacher training, bringing benefits to children’s learning at temporary learning classrooms in IDP camps.
The Myanmar Sustainable Development Plan (MSDP) has inclusion and equity as one of the cross-cutting issues, and education is one of the priority areas. “Strong long-term partnership between the Ministry of Education and UNICEF, with both soft and hardware interventions, result in a holistic child friendly environment which goes far beyond just the construction of schools,” said the Director General of the Department of Basic Education, U Ko Lay Win. “The Rakhine State Government guidance and support to the Ministry of Education has ensured the safety and access of Government staff, UNICEF staff, and contractors involved in construction, monitoring and training activities, even in conflict afflicted areas.”..."
Source/publisher:
UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) (Myanmar) via Reliefweb (New York)
Date of publication:
2020-02-05
Date of entry/update:
2020-03-01
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund), Children, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Chin State
Language:
more
Description:
"In 2020, UNICEF will enter a major new phase for education of Rohingya refugee children living in camps in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, together with other humanitarian actors. Following a landmark decision by the Government of Bangladesh, UNICEF will further expand access to education by introducing the Myanmar curriculum on a pilot basis in the first half of the year.
The pilot will initially target 10,000 Rohingya students from grades six to nine. It will then be expanded to other grades in a phased manner. The pilot targets older children, who currently have less access to education compared with their younger counterparts.
“Education takes people from the darkness and brings them into the light. “What drives me is the students’ ambition to learn,” said Rozina Aktar, a teacher for level 4 students.
Rohingya community’s desire for new curriculum
The introduction of the pilot follows the wishes of the Rohingya refugees and builds hope for their future by giving then access to education based on the Myanmar curriculum.
It will also help Rohingya children reintegrate into the Myanmar education system and society when conditions become conducive for them to return to Myanmar in a voluntary, safe and dignified way.
315,000 children and adolescents study at over 3,200 learning centres
UNICEF currently provides informal education opportunities to 220,000 Rohingya children aged 4 to14 years based on a tailor-made curriculum called the Learning Competency Framework and Approach (LCFA).
However, the majority of children (over 90 per cent) are learning LCFA levels 1 and 2, the equivalent of preprimary level up to grade 2 in a formal school system. Few Rohingya students have enough learning to study at the higher levels (LCFA levels 3 and 4), equivalent of grades 3 to 8, due to the poor status of their education in Rakhine State in Myanmar..."
Source/publisher:
UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) (Myanmar) via Reliefweb (New York)
Date of publication:
2020-02-10
Date of entry/update:
2020-03-01
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund), Children, Education and training of migrants and refugees from Burma, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
Language:
more
Description:
"In response to the COVID-19 outbreak, UNICEF’s focus has been on childfriendly risk communication messages in a number of ethnic languages to promote good hygiene and hand-washing behaviors to reduce transmission and spread. UNICEF is also issuing a U-Report “chatbot” to provide basic information and advice reaching over 33,000 young people countrywide.
• UNICEF and the Mine Risk Working Group (MRWG) recorded 36 casualties in January of whom 15 were children, and of five deaths, four were children.
• During the visit of the Special Representative of the Secretary General for Children and Armed Conflict, she acknowledged the progress made by the Government with regards to the 2012 Joint Action Plan on the recruitment and use of children and urged continued engagement and a new joint action plan to better protect children and end killing, maiming and sexual violence..."
Source/publisher:
UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) (New York) via Reliefweb (New York)
Date of publication:
2020-01-31
Date of entry/update:
2020-03-01
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
685.13 KB (7 pages)
more
Sub-title:
The United States and the Myanmar government are implementing three five-year projects aimed at eradicating child labour in the country, a senior official said on Monday.
Description:
"U Thein Swe, minister of Labour, Immigration and Population, said the three projects will accelerate implementation of the Minimum Age Convention (138) of the International Labour Organization (ILO), which includes the abolition of child labour.
“We will implement this in all regions and states in addition to five designated regions and states at the same time,” he said.
In December last year, parliament approved the ratification of the treaty, paving the way for the government to end all child labour.
According to a government survey in 2015, Myanmar has about 1.12 million child workers between the ages of 5 and 17. The minimum age range for child workers is 13 to 15 under Convention 138. George Sibley, US Embassy deputy chief of mission, said they are expecting changes in the country’s labour sector.
Aside from its efforts to eradicate child workers, the government is also focused on ending forced labour in the country..."
Source/publisher:
"Myanmar Times" (Myanmar)
Date of publication:
2020-02-25
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-25
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Children, Child labour in Burma, Children's Rights - studies
Language:
more
Description:
"Today, the National Nutrition Centre of the Department of Public Health, Ministry of Health and Sports and UNICEF presented Frameworks of Action for Complementary Feeding and Maternal Nutrition at an event that included participants from several ministries including the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation, Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement and Ministry of Education, as well as nutrition development partners in Myanmar.
The Frameworks of Action are a result of renewed regional efforts made in six ASEAN countries, including Cambodia, Lao PDR, Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam, and Myanmar to improve both child complementary feeding and maternal nutrition in the effort to address the triple burden of malnutrition, which includes undernutrition, micronutrient deficiencies and overweight and obesity. In each of the six countries, a comprehensive landscape exercise was conducted, including the review of key global, regional and country level findings to assess the current situation of children’s diet and maternal nutrition and identify relevant policy and programmatic opportunities. The analysis also included UNICEF’s recent flagship report, the 2019 State of the World’s Children (SOWC) which focuses on nutrition.
The SOWC Report and Myanmar’s landscaping exercise on maternal nutrition and complementary feeding show that poor eating and feeding practices start from the very beginning. Two in five pregnant women (40 per cent) and one in three (30 per cent)[1] of reproductive age women in Myanmar have iron deficiency anaemia, and anaemia during pregnancy can lead to premature birth and low-birth. In addition, only half of children under six months of age in Myanmar are exclusively breastfed– a practice that is protective against malnutrition and poor health, and 39 per cent of those children are introduced to complementary foods too early.
“While the country has done a lot to improve nutrition over the past decade, as seen in the reduction of childhood stunting from 35 per cent in 2009 to 27 per cent in 2017, more can be done particularly in improving the nutrition of pregnant women and the diets that young children consume. Additional focus in these areas will help us to achieve further sustained reductions in malnutrition”, said Dr. Lwin Mar Hlaing, Acting Director of the National Nutrition Centre..."
Source/publisher:
Ministry of Health and Sports (Myanmar) and UNICEF (Myanmar) via reliefweb (New York)
Date of publication:
2020-02-16
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-17
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund), Food Security and nutrition in Burma/Myanmar, Children
Language:
more
Description:
" At least 15 women and children drowned and more than 50 others were missing after a boat overloaded with Rohingya refugees sank off southern Bangladesh as it tried to reach Malaysia Tuesday, officials said.
Some 138 people — mainly women and children — were packed on a trawler barely 40 feet long trying to cross the Bay of Bengal, a coast guard spokesman told AFP.
"It sank because of overloading. The boat was meant to carry maximum 50 people. The boat was also loaded with some cargo," another coast guard spokesman, Hamidul Islam, added..."
Source/publisher:
"CBS News" (New York)
Date of publication:
2020-02-11
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-14
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Children, Children's Rights - studies, Discrimination/violence against women: reports of violations in Arakan (Rakhine) State
Language:
more
Description:
"At least 19 children were wounded when a primary school was hit by shelling in Myanmar’s Rakhine state, a lawmaker and a military spokesman said on Thursday.
Clashes between government troops and ethnic insurgents have intensified in Rakhine, from where tens of thousands of people have been displaced since clashes began in December 2018, bringing new chaos to the region from which more than 730,000 Rohingya Muslims fled a military crackdown in 2017.
The Arakan Army, which recruits from the mostly Buddhist majority, has been fighting for greater autonomy for the western region from the central government.
Artillery fire hit the school in Khamwe Chaung village in Buthidaung township on Thursday morning, Tun Aung Thein, a local member of parliament, told Reuters by telephone. He said he did not know who was responsible.
“According to the health department, 19 students are injured and one is seriously injured,” the lawmaker said.
A military spokesman put the number of wounded at 20, and blamed the insurgents for the attack..."
Source/publisher:
"Reuters" (UK)
Date of publication:
2020-02-13
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-14
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Armed conflict in Rakhine (Arakan) State, Children and armed conflict, Children, Children's Rights - studies
Language:
more
Sub-title:
A legislator from strife-torn Rakhine State urged the government to come up with a plan to educate children living in camps for people displaced by conflict (IDPs).
Description:
"Daw Khin Saw Hla, MP for Rathedaung township, said the government must not neglect the education of the children in the camps. “Our internal conflicts were born during our struggle for independence over 70 years ago,” she said. “No one knows when they will end. The education of the children in war-torn areas should not be neglected.”
She called on officials of the National Education Policy Commission (NEPC) to visit the IDP camps so it can formulate a policy on educating them. Daw Khin Saw Hla said thousands of children were among the over 100,000 people who have had to flee their homes since fighting between the Tatmadaw (military) and Arakan Army erupted in 2018.
These children do not attend school, she said. In one of the clashes, a high school was closed because the Tatmadaw turned it into a temporary headquarters. “This school has more than 1,000 students from 24 nearby villages, including Kyauktan village. Now they are having difficulty learning. The Tatmadaw should not station troops in schools,” she said.
She also said the programme of the Department of Alternative Education and Myanmar Literacy Resource Centre to give a second chance to children aged 10 to 12 years old who drop out of school should be extended to Rakhine..."
Source/publisher:
"Myanmar Times" (Myanmar)
Date of publication:
2020-02-11
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-11
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Children, Children's Rights - studies, Armed conflict in Rakhine (Arakan) State
Language:
more
Sub-title:
Change of heart by Bangladesh government is greeted enthusiastically by refugee advocates
Description:
"Rohingya children living in Bangladesh refugee camps will be allowed to receive a formal education after a change of heart by Dhaka, in a move welcomed by rights activists.
Nearly one million Rohingya, including more than half a million children, live in the squalid and crowded camps near the southeastern border with Myanmar, whence many had fled in 2017 after a brutal military crackdown.
The children were previously barred from studying the curriculua used in Bangladesh and Myanmar, and instead received primary education in temporary learning centers set up by the UN children’s agency UNICEF. “We don’t want a lost generation of Rohingya. We want them to have education. They will follow Myanmar curricula,” Foreign Minister A.K. Abdul Momen told AFP on Tuesday.
The decision came after a meeting of a national task force set up by the government.
Local media reported that a pilot program involving more than 10,000 students would be launched soon, with UNICEF and Dhaka jointly designing the curriculum. The refugee children will be schooled in Myanmar history and culture up to age 14, and will also receive skills training so they can take up jobs back in Myanmar when they return home, the foreign ministry said..."
Source/publisher:
"Asia Times" (Hong Kong)
Date of publication:
2020-01-29
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-08
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Children, Education and training of migrants and refugees from Burma, UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund), Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
Language:
more
Sub-title:
Refugees in Cox’s Bazar complain the international aid community does not utilise their experience and say the lack of education risks creating a ‘lost generation’
Description:
"In a tea room just outside Bangladesh’s Rohingya refugee camps, a group of young activists fiddle with their phones, which have suddenly started pinging in chorus now they are finally reconnected to the internet.
To circumvent a government internet blackout around the camps in Cox’s Bazar, they have to break a ban on travelling to nearby Bangladeshi towns, from where they can communicate and coordinate messages for the international community.
With simple smartphones the activists have been able to build some kind of Rohingya voice, speaking to the world through WhatsApp, Facebook and Twitter. But their efforts have often been frustrated, mostly for a more fundamental reason than the technological barrier in place since August: they believe the aid community sent to help them is not listening.
“The Rohingya community are not weak, but the situation makes us weak,” says Mohammad Arfaat, an activist who was part of a Rohingya team that made a short film about how violence had forced them from Myanmar in 2017. He has been calling for more help for Rohingya to launch their own initiatives, for everything from education to arts, but complains there has been no support. “The Rohingya youth are very talented … but nobody sits, nobody talks with them, so their voices have stopped,” says Arfaat..."
Source/publisher:
"The Guardian" (UK)
Date of publication:
2020-02-05
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-08
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Children, Education and training of migrants and refugees from Burma, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
Language:
more
Topic:
Rohingya, refugees, children, education, Bangladesh, UNICEF
Topic:
Rohingya, refugees, children, education, Bangladesh, UNICEF
Description:
" Rohingya children living in Bangladesh refugee camps will be allowed to receive a formal education after a change of heart by Dhaka in a move welcomed by right activists.
Nearly one million Rohingya, including more than half a million children, live in the squalid and crowded camps near the southeastern border with Myanmar, where many had fled from in 2017 after a brutal military crackdown.
The children were previously barred from studying the curriculums used in Bangladesh and Myanmar, and instead received primary education in temporary learning centres set up by the UN children's agency UNICEF.
"We don't want a lost generation of Rohingya. We want them to have education. They will follow Myanmar curricula," Foreign Minister A.K. Abdul Momen told AFP on Tuesday.
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The decision came after a meeting of a national taskforce set up by the government. Local media reported that a pilot programme involving more than 10,000 students would be launched soon, with UNICEF and Dhaka jointly designing the curriculum.
The refugee children will be schooled in Myanmar history and culture up to age 14, and will also receive skills training so they can take up jobs back in Myanmar when they return home, the foreign ministry said.
"I can't express my joy with words ... generations of Rohingya hardly had any education in their homeland in Myanmar as they were discriminated there and were robbed of their citizenship," Rohingya youth leader and human rights activist Rafique bin Habib said..."
Source/publisher:
Agence France-Presse (AFP) (France) via "Frontier Myanmar" (Myanmar)
Date of publication:
2020-01-28
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-04
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Children, UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund), Education and training of migrants and refugees from Burma, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
Language:
more
Sub-title:
Children aged 11-13 will be first to benefit as government eases long-standing restrictions in effort to avoid ‘lost generation’
Description:
"Bangladesh has confirmed it will lift restrictions on education for young Rohingya refugees, easing bans in place since the existing camps were established 30 years ago.
The government’s move to allow schooling for children aged 11-13 has been widely welcomed by activists and teachers.
“We don’t want a lost generation of Rohingya. We want them to have education. They will follow Myanmar curricula,” the country’s foreign minister, AK Abdul Momen, told reporters on Tuesday.
A statement put out by the UN on behalf of “the UN and humanitarian community” praised the decision. “We believe this is a positive step and a clear indication of the commitment by the government of Bangladesh to ensure access to learning for Rohingya children and adolescents, as well as to equip them with the right skills and capacities for their future and return to Myanmar when the conditions allow,” it read. “In line with the government’s decision, the education sector for the humanitarian response in Cox’s Bazar now plans to pilot the introduction of the Myanmar curriculum in the Rohingya refugee camps starting in April, initially targeting 10,000 Rohingya students in grades six to nine. The use of the Myanmar curriculum will be expanded to other grades in a phased manner.”
More than 700,000 ethnic Rohingya fled to Bangladesh in 2017 after Myanmar’s military carried out a series of operations that the UN described as having “genocidal intent” against the minority, taking the total refugee population in Bangladesh to almost a million..."
Source/publisher:
"The Guardian" (UK)
Date of publication:
2020-01-29
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Rohingya, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Children, Education and training of migrants and refugees from Burma
Language:
more
Description:
"Children have a right to learn and a right to an education that will support their development, growth and ability to build their future. This right to an education does not end in times of emergency. In fact, it is even more essential that children who have escaped conflict and witnessed atrocities should have access to the safe haven of schools and learning opportunities.
Such children need a space to be with peers, play and learn, a space where their parents know they are safe. The impact of this space, and the stability and routine it offers, where children can grow, learn and simply be children cannot be overstated.
Many Rohingya children had their lives interrupted, the ground beneath their feet ripped from under them, as they fled horrific violence in their home country more than two years ago. Education can counter this chaos, providing at least some stable ground where these children can plant their feet – ground on which they can begin to recover and rebuild. This is why a recent announcement by the Bangladeshi government is immeasurably important. This week it announced that it will provide Rohingya refugee children with access to expanded education opportunities including skills training, based on the Myanmar curriculum. Not only is this an essential first step toward giving Rohingya children back some of the stability they have lost since being forced to flee to Bangladesh, it also prepares them to reintegrate back into Myanmar society when they are able to return in a safe, voluntary and dignified manner..."
Source/publisher:
"Asia Times" (Hong Kong)
Date of publication:
2020-02-01
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Children, Education and training of migrants and refugees from Burma, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
Language:
more
Description:
"The Bangladesh government has announced it will offer schooling and skills training opportunities to Rohingya refugee children, two and a half years after they were forced to flee crimes against humanity in Myanmar.
Amnesty International and other human rights organizations have been campaigning for the nearly half a million Rohingya children in Bangladesh’s refugee camps to be allowed to enjoy their right to quality education, warning of the costs of a ‘lost generation’.
“This is an important and very positive commitment by the Bangladeshi government, allowing children to access schooling and chase their dreams for the future. They have lost two academic years already and cannot afford to lose any more time outside a classroom,” said Saad Hammadi, South Asia Campaigner at Amnesty International.
“It is important that access to appropriate, accredited and quality education be extended to all children in the Cox’s Bazar area, including Rohingya refugees and the host community. The international community has a key role to play here in ensuring the Bangladesh government has the resources it needs to realize this goal.”
Up to now, the Bangladesh government had resisted calls to grant Rohingya refugee children access to education, limiting learning opportunities to a few provisional learning centres that offer playtime and early primary school lessons scattered across the refugee camps in the Cox’s Bazar district. A few children who managed to gain access to local secondary schools were expelled on the government’s instructions..."
Source/publisher:
"Amnesty International" (UK)
Date of publication:
2020-01-28
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-02
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Children, Education in Burma/Myanmar - general, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Education and training of migrants and refugees from Burma
Language:
more
Description:
"In 2019, UNICEF reached over 460,000 children and their families with critical supplies including support for 4,213 children with severe acute malnutrition, measles vaccination for 12,222 children between 9 and 18 months, safe water for over 132,300 people, learning opportunities to 45,167 children, and 107,215 people received information on staying safe from unexploded ordinance.
Over 221 people, including 52 children, were killed or injured by landmines or explosive remnants of war in 2019. While this is down from 2018 when 276 people were killed or injured, there is a marked increase in Rakhine State, which now accounts for over one quarter of all incidents up from 0 in 2018.
UNICEF’s humanitarian activities continue in 2020 targeting Rakhine, Chin, Kachin, Shan and Kayin states where conflict-affected populations remain in need, including 361,000 children (source: 2020 Humanitarian Needs Overview)..."
Source/publisher:
UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) (Myanmar) via Reliefweb (New York)
Date of publication:
2020-01-31
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-01
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
562.25 KB
more
Sub-title:
Under new programme, 10,000 Rohingya boys and girls to be enrolled in grades 6 to 9, a move hailed by rights groups.
Description:
"Rights groups and activists have welcomed Bangladesh's decision to allow Rohingya children living in sprawling refugee camps to receive a formal education, calling it a "positive step".
To date, only one-third of Rohingya child refugees - who fled a brutal 2017 crackdown in neighbouring Myanmar - are able to access a primary education through temporary learning centres run by international agencies.
More:
Rohingya facing 'lost generation' of children out of school
A boy who can sing: The life of a Rohingya child refugee
Akter, 20, expelled from university for being Rohingya
Starting in April, a pilot programme led by the UNICEF and Bangladesh government will initially enrol 10,000 Rohingya boys and girls up to the age of 14 in the sixth to ninth grades, where they will be taught the Myanmar school curriculum and receive skills training, officials said on Wednesday.
"It is a great news for us," Nay San Lwin, co-founder of Free Rohingya Coalition, told Al Jazeera.
"As of now, at least the children can study up to grade 9 and youth can join skill trainings," he said.
Primary education is provided to more than 145,000 children by a network of 1,600 UNICEF-run small learning centres in the refugee camps in southeastern Bangladesh, where more than one million Rohingya, nearly half of whom are children, have been living since they fled persecution in Myanmar..."
Source/publisher:
"Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
Date of publication:
2020-01-30
Date of entry/update:
2020-01-31
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Children, Children's Rights - studies, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
Language:
more
Description:
"The Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, Ms. Virginia Gamba, completed a five-day mission to Myanmar where she engaged with national authorities, civil society, Ethnic Armed Organizations representatives, the Diplomatic Corps and the Country Taskforce on Monitoring and Reporting on Children and Armed Conflict (CTFMR on CAAC) in Myanmar.
“Children in Myanmar have suffered tremendously from the impact of hostilities, especially in Rakhine, Shan and Kachin States; it is crucial for all parties, including the Tatmadaw and other Government security forces, to continue their engagement with the United Nations to end and prevent violations against children,” said the Special Representative.
During this visit to Yangon and Nay Pyi Taw, the second since 2018, the Special Representative met with senior government officials including the State Counsellor and Foreign Minister, Her Excellency Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, as well as the Ministers of Defense, of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement, of Labor and Immigration and Population, and with the Union Attorney General. She also had constructive discussions with the Chairs of the Joint Ceasefire Monitoring Committee.
“The Government Forces have made significant progress in the implementation of their joint Action Plan signed in 2012 with the United Nations on the recruitment of children; the Action Plan must now be expedited and finalized. I also urge the Tatmadaw Army to continue its engagement with the United Nations to develop measures to better protect children and to commit to a joint action plan on killing and maiming and sexual violence, violations for which they remain listed,” she added..."
Source/publisher:
UN Office of the SRSG for Children and Armed Conflict via "Reliefweb" (New York)
Date of publication:
2020-01-20
Date of entry/update:
2020-01-21
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Children, Children's Rights - studies, Children's rights: reports of violations in Burma against more than one ethnic group
Language:
more
Sub-title:
The Health, Labour and Welfare Ministry plans to introduce a system to examine all deaths of children under 18, in principle, for the purpose of preventing children dying from abuse or accidents, The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned.
Description:
"The system will be called Child Death Review (CDR) (see below) and the ministry intends to implement it across the country as early as fiscal 2022. Starting in April this year, the ministry will introduce the CDR system at five local governments as a model project. By reviewing all cases of child death, the ministry aims to find abuse and accident cases that child consultation centers and police have failed to identify, and make use of the results to prevent such cases recurring.
CDR is a framework in which children’s death certificates, measures taken by police, fire departments and child consultation centers, and other issues are examined from various viewpoints. The purpose is to prevent the recurrence of similar cases, rather than focusing on holding individuals and the relevant institutions and officials accountable, even when abuse or an accident is confirmed after the review.
According to the ministry, about 3,800 children under the age of 18 died in 2018. Of them, about 70 children, or 2%, were subject to government investigations as child abuse deaths.
However, a study group within the ministry collected and analyzed cases of the deaths of about 2,300 children under 18 from about 150 medical institutions nationwide for a period from 2014 to 2016. It found that 118 of those children were suspected to have died as a result of being abused, accounting for around 5% of the total. Based on this finding, the ministry expects other overlooked abuse cases will be exposed by using CDR to examine all child deaths..."
Source/publisher:
Eleven Media Group (Myanmar)
Date of publication:
2020-01-18
Date of entry/update:
2020-01-19
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
more
Description:
"In a ward at Fuwai Yunnan Cardiovascular Hospital (FYCH), a nurse comforted 2-year-old Khant Thurain Phyo with a toy car. His mother Zar Yi Myint was jollily making a video call with her husband and daughter back in Myanmar.
Khant Thurain Phyo, who had been diagnosed with serious congenital heart disease (CHD), arrived in Kunming, capital of southwest China's Yunnan Province, with his mother a month ago, for free treatment sponsored by a rescue action plan under the Belt and Road Initiative.
The action plan was launched by the China Charity Federation, Yunnan Charity Federation and the FYCH in 2018 and has so far treated 15 Myanmar children with CHD.
Looking at her son who can now jump like a playful deer, the 28-year-old mother was grateful for the Chinese doctors. "They gave my child a second life."
"He was skinny at birth. He frequently suffered from difficulty breathing," the mother said.
When the diagnosis came out, the poor boy could only rely on medicine to stay alive due to inadequate medical conditions for surgery. But the high medical costs almost pushed the family to the brink of collapse.
Upon hearing the news that a hospital in neighboring Yunnan was willing to offer free treatment to children with severe CHD, the struggling family saw a glimmer of hope.
In 2018, a Chinese medical team arrived in Yonjin Children's Hospital in Myanmar's Rangoon. They checked 58 children diagnosed with CHD and took 15 seriously ill patients back to Kunming for treatment..."
Source/publisher:
"Xinhua" (China)
Date of publication:
2020-01-17
Date of entry/update:
2020-01-19
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
more
Description:
"UNICEF Myanmar has expressed deep sorrow over the death of four children last week when an explosive device went off while they were collecting fire wood in the forest near Htike Htoo Pauk village of Buthedaung Township in Rakhine State. Five more children were injured in the incident.
UNICEF, in a statement, said it was deeply concerned about the continued reports of killings and injuries of children, as a result of intensified fighting between the Myanmar Army and the Arakan Army in the conflict-affected areas of Rakhine State.
In 2019 alone, 16 children lost their life and 36 have been severely injured in conflict affected areas of Myanmar as a result of incidents caused by landmines and Explosive Remnants of War (ERWs)..."
Source/publisher:
"Mizzima" (Myanmar)
Date of publication:
2020-01-13
Date of entry/update:
2020-01-13
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Children, UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund), Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Children's rights: reports of violations in Burma against more than one ethnic group
Language:
more
Topic:
Child protection, Armed conflict, Myanmar
Topic:
Child protection, Armed conflict, Myanmar
Description:
"UNICEF Myanmar expresses deep sorrow over the death offour children on Monday when an explosive device went off while they were collecting fire wood in the forest near Htike Htoo Pauk village of Buthedaung Township in Rakhine State. Five more children were injured in the incident. Our thoughts go to the families of the victims, to those injured and to all children caught up in conflict.
UNICEF is deeply concerned about the continued reports of killings and injuries of children, as a result of intensified fighting between the Myanmar Army and the Arakan Army in the conflict-affected areas of Rakhine State.
In 2019 alone, 16 children lost their life and 36 have been severely injured in conflict affect areas of Myanmar as a result of incidents caused by landmines and Explosive Remnants of War (ERWs).
UNICEF urges all parties to the conflict to stop laying mines and to clear existing mines and unexploded ordinances to ensure the safety of children caught up in conflict, and to uphold their right to protection. UNICEF also urges the Government to facilitate access for the provision of emergency Mine Risk Education activities so children, teachers and other community members receive psychosocial support and mine risk education in schools and communities in all conflict-affected areas of Myanmar..."
Source/publisher:
UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) (Myanmar) via Reliefweb (New York)
Date of publication:
2020-01-12
Date of entry/update:
2020-01-12
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund), Children, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Children's rights: reports of violations in Burma against more than one ethnic group, Armed conflict in Rakhine (Arakan) State
Language:
more
Description:
" Myanmar has taken the lead in Southeast Asia to eliminate corporal punishment and child labour with the ratification of a minimum age obligation and new legislation.
According to the Myanmar Times, last November, the International labour Organisation’s Minimum Age Convention No 138 was approved by parliament.
Among others, the 18-article convention allows Myanmar and other underdeveloped countries to employ children aged 12 to 14 for non-harmful light work.
It also seeks to abolish child labour and support the physical, mental and economic development of young people.
A few months earlier, Myanmar enacted the Child Rights Law, which garnered widespread recognition and support among civil society organisations for the advancement of children’s rights.
It also ended violence against children and the legislation was applauded by the likes of Unicef, Human Rights Watch and Save the Children.
Save the Children, which has operations in Myanmar, hailed the nation as a leader in the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations on the issue of any form of punishment perpetrated against children..."
Source/publisher:
"New Straits Times" (Malaysia)
Date of publication:
2020-01-09
Date of entry/update:
2020-01-09
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Children, Children's rights: reports of violations in Burma against more than one ethnic group, Child labour in Burma
Language:
more
Sub-title:
Deadly landmine explosion happens in forest where Rohingya from nearby villages went to harvest firewood
Description:
"Four Rohingya children were killed in a landmine explosion in Myanmar’s western Rakhine state early Tuesday, according to an official.
A group of more than 10 local Rohingya -- including several teenagers -- were harvesting firewood in the forest near Hteiktoo Pauk village in Kyauktaw Township when the mine exploded around 10.30 a.m. local time (0600GMT).
“Four children, two of them 8 years old and two of them 10, were killed on the spot,” said Aung Thaung Shwe, lower house lawmaker for the area.
He told Anadolu Agency by phone on Tuesday that six other Rohingya -- one adult man and five teenage boys -- were also injured in the landmine explosion.
It is still unclear whether Myanmar’s military or the Arakan Army -- a predominantly Buddhist ethnic group fighting for greater autonomy in the region -- planted the landmine in the forest.
“It is an act of terror as it targets civilians,” said Aung Thaung Shwe.
According to local media reports citing data from civil society groups, around 100 civilians have been killed in Rakhine state by armed clashes since the Arakan Army launched synchronized attacks on police outposts last January, killing 13 officers..."
Source/publisher:
"Anadolu Agency" (Ankara)
Date of publication:
2020-01-07
Date of entry/update:
2020-01-08
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Reports and maps covering anti-personnel landmines and Burma/Myanmar, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Children, Children's rights: reports of violations in Burma against more than one ethnic group
Language:
more
Sub-title:
Myanmar is the leading country in Southeast Asia in eliminating corporal punishment and child labour following the ratification of a minimum age obligation and passsage of a landmark legislation.
Description:
"In November, the parliament approved the ratification of the International Labour Organization’s Minimum Age Convention No 138. The 18-article convention seeks to abolish child labour and support the physical, mental and economic development of young people, while allowing Myanmar and other underdeveloped countries to employ children aged 12 to 14 for non-harmful light work. This follows the enactment of the Child Rights Law a few months earlier, a move which garnered widespread recognition and support among civil society organisations for the advancement of children's rights, particularly in ending violence against children. The legislation was applauded by the likes of UNICEF, Human Rights Watch and Save the Children.
Save the Children, which has operations in Myanmar, hailed the nation as a leader in the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on the issue of any form of punishment perpetrated against children..."
Source/publisher:
"Myanmar Times" (Myanmar)
Date of publication:
2020-01-07
Date of entry/update:
2020-01-08
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Children, Children's rights: reports of violations in Burma against more than one ethnic group, ASEAN-Burma relations
Language:
more
Sub-title:
Three-fold rise in verified attacks on children since 2010, an average of 45 violations a day
Description:
"Children continue to pay a deadly price as conflicts rage around the world, UNICEF said today. Since the start of the decade, the United Nations has verified more than 170,000 grave violations against children in conflict – the equivalent of more than 45 violations every day for the last 10 years.
The number of countries experiencing conflict is the highest it has been since the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1989, with dozens of violent armed conflicts killing and maiming children and forcing them from their homes.
“Conflicts around the world are lasting longer, causing more bloodshed and claiming more young lives,” said Henrietta Fore, UNICEF Executive Director. “Attacks on children continue unabated as warring parties flout one of the most basic rules of war: the protection of children. For every act of violence against children that creates headlines and cries of outrage, there are many more that go unreported.”
In 2018, the UN verified more than 24,000 grave violations against children, including killing, maiming, sexual violence, abductions, denial of humanitarian access, child recruitment and attacks on schools and hospitals. While monitoring and reporting efforts have been strengthened, this number is more than two-and-a-half times higher than that recorded in 2010..."
Source/publisher:
UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) (New York)
Date of publication:
2019-12-29
Date of entry/update:
2020-01-07
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Children, UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund), Children's rights: reports of violations in Burma against more than one ethnic group
Language:
more
Description:
"Myanmar’s Mingalar Thaikti nunnery has become home to 66 girls, aged between four and 18 from the Palaung ethnic group.
The girls are from the eastern Shan State, where there are ongoing conflicts between local rebel groups and Myanmar’s military. Dhama Theingi, one of the girls, dreams of becoming an engineer as she studies for her secondary school exam at the monastery. Two days a week, after rising for dawn prayers, she hits Yangon’s streets collecting alms – spoonfuls of uncooked rice or small change.
A growing number of children have been seeking refuge in monasteries as a result of conflict in the country, with nearly 18,000 child nuns and novice monks attending monastic schools in Yangon alone in 2019..."
Source/publisher:
"South China Morning Post" (Hong Kong)
Date of publication:
2019-12-27
Date of entry/update:
2020-01-07
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Children
Language:
more
Description:
"Hundreds rallied in Myanmar’s commercial capital Yangon on Monday to protest the release by police officials of the identity of a child-rape victim known to the public as Victoria, demanding that authorities take action against the officers exposing her identity.
The toddler nicknamed Victoria was two years and 11 months old when she was allegedly assaulted on May 16 at the private Wisdom Hill School in Zabuthiri township of Myanmar’s capital Naypyidaw.
On July 14, police arrested 29-year-old Aung Kyaw Myo, a driver at the school who goes by the name Aung Gyi, charging him with rape based on the school’s CCTV video footage, an identification by the victim, and the presence of semen on his underwear.
Speaking at a press conference on Dec. 19, senior police officers Police Major General Aung Naing Thu, Police Brigadier General Soe Naing, Police Brigadier General Min Han, and Police Colonel Thar Htoon for the first time named the child victim in the case, later posting further information about the young girl and her family on the police department’s official Facebook page..."
Source/publisher:
"RFA" (USA)
Date of publication:
2019-12-23
Date of entry/update:
2020-01-07
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Children, Children's rights: resources and organisations, Children's rights: reports of violations in Burma against more than one ethnic group
Language:
more
Sub-title:
The world needs to stop viewing us as victims and help us gain the tools we need to forge a new path for Myanmar
Description:
"In the summer of 2012, when a particularly gruesome episode of anti-Rohingya violence erupted in the capital city of Myanmar's Rakhine state, Sittwe, I was a second-year physics student at the town's university.
Sittwe's Buddhist residents were attacking Rohingya homes and businesses with makeshift weapons. Soldiers, who had allegedly been sent to the town to help bring an end to the violence, were shooting at the Rohingya with live ammunition.
As a young Rohingya Muslim, I knew that if I went outside I would be tortured and killed either by angry Buddhist mobs or military troops. So, I hid inside my dormitory room. After spending a week in hiding without any food or other supplies, I was informed by the immigration authority that I was no longer a student - I was banned from Sittwe University and denied an education as a result of the racial segregation plan Myanmar authorities imposed in the name of "keeping the peace".
A few days later, I was forcibly sent back to my hometown, Maungdaw, which is situated in Rakhine state, near Myanmar's border with Bangladesh. But I did not find safety there either. Security forces were regularly raiding Rohingya homes and dragging away anyone they found inside. They were specifically targeting the young and the educated who they viewed as a threat to their authority. We later found the dead bodies of some of the abducted, while others are missing to this day..."
Source/publisher:
"Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
Date of publication:
2019-12-31
Date of entry/update:
2020-01-04
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Children, Children's Rights - studies, Education and training of migrants and refugees from Burma
Language:
more
Topic:
child rape, Child Rights Law, CID, Criminal Investigation Department, driver, Ko Aung Gyi, Naypyitaw, Police, Police Brigadier General Soe Naing Oo, Toddler rape case, U Khin Maung Zaw
Topic:
child rape, Child Rights Law, CID, Criminal Investigation Department, driver, Ko Aung Gyi, Naypyitaw, Police, Police Brigadier General Soe Naing Oo, Toddler rape case, U Khin Maung Zaw
Description:
"Myanmar’s police say the court’s release of detained driver Ko Aung Gyi, who is accused in the high-profile toddler rape case in Naypyitaw, was premature, as the investigation remains incomplete.
The police said they were standing by their allegations against him.
At a press conference after the driver’s release, Police Brigadier General Soe Naing Oo of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) said police were surprised by the court’s decision.
“We expected that the court would make a decision only after it heard from all the witnesses and studied key evidence. But the suspect was released even before being charged by the court,” he said. “It is still too early to do so.”
Naypyitaw’s Dekkhinathiri District Court on Wednesday released Ko Aung Gyi (also known as Aung Kyaw Myo), who faces rape charges.
It had heard from 19 witnesses and no one, including the victim and teachers at the Wisdom Hill nursery school, had given any evidence to implicate him.
It is the second time he has been released by the court on the grounds of insufficient evidence..."
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of publication:
2019-12-19
Date of entry/update:
2019-12-20
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Children
Language:
more
Description:
"Earlier this year, in June, Save the Children released its Global Childhood Report 2019. The report involved a total of 176 countries, and took a look at indicators such as children’s healthcare, education, nutrition and protection. But while Singapore took lead in terms of providing a safe and fostering environment for children, leaving other ASEAN countries far behind, countries like Lao, Cambodia, Myanmar, and the Philippines performed the worst in the bloc.
The ASEAN Post has published several articles citing this particular report. We looked at the dire state in Lao, Cambodia, and the Philippines, and also commended Singapore for being able to grab top spot for the second year in a row. Nevertheless, today it’s pertinent to also take a closer look at Myanmar.
Talking about children in Myanmar is timely as recently, the country’s Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (Assembly of the Union) approved Myanmar’s ratification of an international treaty to abolish child labour in the country. The Minimum Age Convention (138) of the International Labour Organization (ILO), which includes the abolition of child labour, was approved on Tuesday..."
Source/publisher:
"The ASEAN Post" (Malaysia)
Date of publication:
2019-12-09
Date of entry/update:
2019-12-15
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Children, Child labour in Burma, Children's rights: reports of violations in Burma against more than one ethnic group, ASEAN-Burma relations
Language:
more
Description:
"Both Bangladesh and the international community must share the responsibility of educating all the children of both the host community and the Rohingyas in Cox’s Bazar, Amnesty International has said.
The Global Refugee Forum, which is being hosted by the UN’s refugee agency in Geneva and takes place from December 16-18, has made education one of its six key themes.
More than half a million children have yet to see the inside of a classroom since they arrived in the refugee camps for more than two years ago, Amnesty International said issuing a press release on Friday, ahead of the first Global Refugee Forum.
“The Rohingya children in the camps in Cox’s Bazar must not become a lost generation. The international community must accept that they will not be able to return home to Myanmar any time soon. And they cannot continue to see their futures slowly stolen from them in conditions where they are being denied their right to education,” said Saad Hammadi, South Asia campaigner at Amnesty International..."
Source/publisher:
"Dhaka Tribune" (Bangladesh)
Date of publication:
2019-12-14
Date of entry/update:
2019-12-15
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Children, Education and training of migrants and refugees from Burma, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
Language:
more
Description:
"UNICEF and the Rakhine State Government met on 29 November to review results achieved in the state in 2019 and discussed UNICEF’s identified priority areas for 2020/2021 as part of a multi-year work planning meeting conducted at state level. Contextual challenges and opportunities were also discussed.
• The Child Protection sub-sector organized several activities to mark the 30th anniversary of the Convention of the Rights of the Child. In Kachin, the Chief Minister opened a ceremony with more than 400 participants including IDPs, host communities, and child protection actors. In Shan and Rakhine States, high level government officials,
UN agencies, NGOs and civil society representatives attended events. The CRC celebration provided an opportunity to raise issues and concerns facing children in conflict-affected areas.
• The fluidity and continuous displacement of newly crisis-affected people, and the trend of fewer than 20 percent of IDPs remaining in the same temporary location for more than a month, has increased the challenges of reaching beneficiaries with the full complement of nutrition support among other services..."
Source/publisher:
UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) (Myanmar) via Reliefweb (New York)
Date of publication:
2019-12-12
Date of entry/update:
2019-12-14
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
648.29 KB
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Description:
"On 6 December, yet another child lost his precious life in a horrific manner. The nine-year-old student, who was reportedly still wearing his school uniform and fleeing his school with other students because they heard sounds of armed clashes, was struck by several bullets and died on the spot on the road in front of his school, Basic Education Primary School – Pike The, in Kyauktaw, Rakhine State. We are shocked and saddened at such tragic loss of a child’s life.
UNICEF is deeply concerned about the alarming increase of reports of killings and injuries of children, as a result of intensified fighting between the Myanmar Army and the Arakan Army in the conflict-affected areas of Rakhine State.
UNICEF calls on all parties to the conflict to ensure the full respect of the civilian character of schools, and to prevent any interference of armed actors with education infrastructures, personnel and students in line with national legal frameworks such as the Child Rights Law and the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement as well as obligations under international law. The presence of armed actors in or around schools increases the risk of schools being targeted and students and school personnel may be harmed, and school facilities damaged. It prevents children from accessing education, and associates schools with violent and traumatic events. We owe it to children to keep them safe at school and we urge all parties to the conflict, to exercise maximum restraint and to protect children at all times.
UNICEF further calls on the Government of Myanmar to endorse the Safe Schools Declaration and to adopt the Guidelines for Protecting Schools and Universities from Military Use during Armed Conflict, into domestic policy and operational frameworks..."
Source/publisher:
UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) (Myanmar)
Date of publication:
2019-12-12
Date of entry/update:
2019-12-14
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund), Children, Children's rights: reports of violations in Burma against more than one ethnic group, Armed conflict in Rakhine (Arakan) State
Language:
more
Description:
"Children in conflict with the law will have their rights protected by the International Legal Foundation (ILF) and United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) Myanmar.
The partnership followed the implementation of the nation’s Child Rights Law which came into effect in July, according to The Myanmar Times.
Funded by the European Union initiative “Protecting children affected by migration in Southeast, South, and Central Asia”, the project focused on diverting children away from the criminal justice system and promoting alternatives to their detention.
Unicef Myanmar and the ILF would train defence lawyers and other justice stakeholders on child-friendly justice as well as set defence standards for juveniles.
They would also facilitate increased cooperation between police, prosecutors, judges and social service providers to divert cases concerning minors away from courts and connect children with appropriate community support to promote alternatives to incarceration.
Jennifer Smith, executive director of the ILF, underscored the importance of having skilled lawyers to defend children accused of crimes.
“Children need strong and skilled defenders to fight for them from the earliest possible moment after arrest, and their cases must be handled differently from adults,” she said..."
Source/publisher:
"New Straits Times" (Malaysia)
Date of publication:
2019-12-06
Date of entry/update:
2019-12-06
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Children, Children's Rights - studies, Children's rights: reports of violations in Burma against more than one ethnic group
Language:
more
Sub-title:
Unlawful Restrictions on Schooling Risk Creating a Lost Generation
Description:
"The government of Bangladesh is blocking aid groups from providing any meaningful education to Rohingya children in refugee camps and banning the children from attending schools outside the camps, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The government should urgently lift the restrictions that unlawfully deprive almost 400,000 Rohingya refugee children of their right to education.
The 81-page report, “‘Are We Not Human?’: Denial of Education for Rohingya Refugee Children in Bangladesh,” documents how Bangladesh prohibits aid groups in the refugee camps in the Cox’s Bazar district from providing Rohingya children with accredited or formal education. There is no secondary-level education, and groups are barred from teaching the Bengali language and using the Bangladesh curriculum. Rohingya children have no opportunity to enroll in or continue their education at private or public schools outside the refugee camps.
“Bangladesh has made it clear that it doesn’t want the Rohingya to remain indefinitely, but depriving children of education just compounds the harm to the children and won’t resolve the refugees’ plight any faster,” said Bill Van Esveld, associate children’s rights director at Human Rights Watch. “The government of Bangladesh saved countless lives by opening its borders and providing refuge to the Rohingya, but it needs to end its misguided policy of blocking education for Rohingya children.”..."
Source/publisher:
"Human Rights Watch" (USA)
Date of publication:
2019-12-02
Date of entry/update:
2019-12-05
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Children, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Human Rights Watch Reports on Burma/Myanmar
Language:
more
Description:
"The Drivers of Violence Against Adolescents in Myanmar: Consultations to Inform Adolescent Programming Report is part of the Understanding Violence Against Adolescents in Myanmar Series which aims to contribute to this growing body of evidence to understand better why violence against children is happening and what is driving it. The Series draws data from both nationally representative data as is presented in this report and from the UNICEF-supported interventions where diverse information is being collected as part of programme monitoring. The Series attempts to give it a closer look at the data and information at hand and dig deeper the issue of violence against children in Myanmar. We hope to generate evidence, create deeper understanding of the issue and stimulate discussions – all to better inform programming to address violence against children in Myanmar.
This publication has been funded by the Australian Government through the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Government of Canada, as well as the UN Action Against Sexual Violence in Conflict. The views expressed in this publication are the author’s alone and are not necessarily the views of the Australian Government, Canadian Government, UN Action or UNICEF..."
Source/publisher:
UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) (Myanmar)
Date of publication:
2019-12-03
Date of entry/update:
2019-12-04
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund), Children, Children's rights: reports of violations in Burma against more than one ethnic group
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
1.3 MB (80 pages)
more
Description:
"Myanmar's health authorities are planning to eliminate mother-to-child transmission of HIV by 2025, according to a release from the Health and Sports Ministry on Monday.
Myint Htwe, union minister of health and sports, said that the HIV infection rate to pregnant women declined from 0.84 percent in 2011 to 0.57 percent in 2018, at the celebration of the World AIDS Day 2019 held on Sunday.
According to the statistical data of AIDS Epidemic Model-AEM, there were about 237,000 people living with HIV nationwide and its prevalence rate is at 0.57 percent in the country last year.
Numbers of HIV incidence dropped to over 10,000 in 2018, from 29,000 in 2000, said the ministry's release.
About 70 percent of HIV incidence occurred in key affected populations which include people who inject drugs, female sex workers and men who have sex with men..."
Source/publisher:
"Xinhua" (China)
Date of publication:
2019-12-02
Date of entry/update:
2019-12-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
more
Sub-title:
In the Kutupalong refugee camp in Bangladesh, 10-year-old Kassem sings about the suffering of his people.
Description:
"The sun was burning over Kutupalong camp, the largest refugee settlement in the world. It was midday, so hot that it was hard to breathe.
I was looking for a child to sing Rohingya songs for a film I was making about the history of the Rohingya in Myanmar, searching among the endless makeshift huts that seemed to stretch to the horizon.
This used to be a forest. But the trees have been cut down to make space for the more than one million Rohingya refugees who live here, many having fled what the UN described as "ethnic cleansing" in Myanmar. Now this former forest, which was once a favourite honeymoon destination for Bangladeshis, is full of people carrying construction materials, food supplies and water; full of tiny huts; full of sorrow and loss. I searched for the child among them, not knowing who that child would be, but sure that I would know when I found them.
On my second day in the camp, I came across a large tree with a small makeshift shop beneath it, selling chewing gum, sweets, cigarettes and packets of crisps that have passed their sell-by date.
The shopkeeper kept a watchful eye on a group of young boys who were deep in conversation nearby..."
Source/publisher:
"Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
Date of publication:
2019-11-27
Date of entry/update:
2019-11-27
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Children, Children's Rights - studies, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
Language:
more
Sub-title:
A visual perspective on children affected by mass migration.
Description:
"To mark the 30th anniversary of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, the World Press Photo Foundation and UNICEF jointly present a selection of stories showing the impact of mass migration on children, awarded in the World Press Photo Contests from 2016 – 2019.
Thirty years ago, world leaders made a promise to every child to promote and protect their rights by adopting the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child – an international agreement on childhood. The Convention became the most widely ratified human rights treaty in history. Since then, governments across the world have taken action to ensure that more children survive and develop to their full potential.
Thirty years on, child rights have not changed – they have no expiry date. But childhood has changed. The rise of digital technology, environmental changes and mass migration are creating new threats for children. For too many children, migration is not a choice but a necessity.
More than 30 million children in the world today have moved across borders.
Migration has been omnipresent in the news and is a recurrent theme in the recent World Press Photo contests. Through different perspectives, these curated stories draw attention to the physical, emotional and psychological impact of mass migration on children from various parts of the world. It highlights the importance of protecting the rights of every child, wherever they are..."
Source/publisher:
UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) (New York)
Date of publication:
2019-11-22
Date of entry/update:
2019-11-27
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund), Children, Children's Rights - studies, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
Language:
more
Description:
"In response to displacement due to fighting in northern Rakhine State, UNICEF distributed hygiene supplies to 287 people (82 households) in Buthidaung township, including 115 children, in October. In addition, two needs identification missions were completed in partnership with UNHCR, UNFPA and Malteser International. Security issues blocked access to several locations.
• The Child Protection sub-sector organized a workshop to update child protection referral pathways in northern Shan State as well as a training on protection, GBV, child protection and gender in WASH activities was held for 23 representatives of “first responders” from civil society organizations. An estimated 20,750 people were displaced between January to August 2019 in northern Shan State.
• UNICEF assisted the Shan State Government to finalize the Climatecentered Disaster Preparedness Strategy for the state which covers profile (geographic, hazards, environmental, social, economic, etc); vulnerability and capacity; risk mapping; State-level Disaster Management Committees; stakeholder mapping; and prioritized activities for disaster risk reduction, climate change adaptation and resilience building..."
Source/publisher:
UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) (New York) via Reliefweb (New York)
Date of publication:
2019-11-25
Date of entry/update:
2019-11-26
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund), Children, Children's rights: resources and organisations
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
412.94 KB (5 pages)
more
Description:
"Today, Myanmar launched the country’s first-ever Alternative Education Subsector [Policy] Framework that will guide the design and implementation of alternative education initiatives for out-of-school children.
In his opening address Deputy Minister, U Win Maw Tun, said, “This strategy is in line with the Ministry of Education’s policy of ‘leaving no child behind’ and will also help the nation achieve its goals under the Myanmar Sustainable Development Plan (MSDP) and the National Education Strategic Plan (2016-2021).” The framework builds on initiatives implemented over the past three years. So far, the country has over 17,000 non-formal primary and non-formal middle education learners as well more than 50,000 adult literacy learners.
The new alternative education initiatives outlined in the framework are aimed at children and youth who have experienced difficulty accessing formal education, including children and youth living in remote areas; children and youth in conflict- and disaster-affected areas; children and youth on the move; and children and youth with disabilities and chronic health problems.
“While steady progress has been made in school enrolment, it is estimated that there are still over 2 million children out of school in Myanmar, with significant disparities between states and regions,” said Paul Edwards, UNICEF Deputy Representative to Myanmar..."
Source/publisher:
UNICEF (Myanmar)
Date of publication:
2019-11-22
Date of entry/update:
2019-11-24
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
more
Description:
"Myanmar is endeavoring to ensure equal rights of all children in the country, said a high-ranking Myanmar social welfare official.
There are about 17 million children across the nation who will be leading the future one day and this event aims to leave legacies for the next generation, said Minister of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement Win Myat Aye Dr Win Myat Aye on Wednesday in his opening address to mark the 30th anniversary United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child in Nay Phi Taw.
The minister outlined five tasks to carry out -- enacting suitable law for the convention, forming a national mechanism to implement the facts, cooperating with domestic and foreign non-governmental organizations and central statistical organizations to monitor and evaluate the implementation of child rights.
The minister disclosed that the government is to guarantee four rights of children, including the rights to live, develop, protect and participate..."
Source/publisher:
"Xinhua" (China)
Date of publication:
2019-11-21
Date of entry/update:
2019-11-21
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Children, Children's rights: reports of violations in Burma against more than one ethnic group
Language:
more
Description:
This link is only Karen kids story in Karen languages. You can listen several Karen story form YouTube.
Source/publisher:
FS- Karen Story
Date of publication:
2019-07-02
Date of entry/update:
2019-11-18
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Children, Documents in Pwo-Karen and S'Gaw Karen
Language:
more
Description:
"The Southeast Asian bloc has agreed to boost efforts, including legal frameworks and law enforcement, to protect children from all forms of online exploitation and abuse. (L-R) Malaysia’s Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, Myanmar’s State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, Philippines’ President Rodrigo Duterte, Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Thailand’s Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha, Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Brunei’s Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen, Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo and Laos Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith (Photo by TANG CHHIN Sothy / AFP)(Photo by TANG CHHIN Sothy / AFP)
Ten leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) signed the declaration to keep children safe amid the digital age following their plenary summit in Thailand.
“The rapid advances in and proliferation of Internet and evolving communications technologies have led to the emergence of unforeseen and unintended consequences that put children’s safety at risk and will likely continue to do so,” the leaders said in the declaration.
They have expressed concern with the global threats that make more children vulnerable to online sexual abuse material and other forms of online exploitation..."
Source/publisher:
"Manila Bulletin" (Philippines)
Date of publication:
2019-11-02
Date of entry/update:
2019-11-10
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
ASEAN-Burma relations, Children, Children's Rights - studies
Language:
more
Topic:
Child rights, East Asia and the Pacific
Topic:
Child rights, East Asia and the Pacific
Description:
" ASEAN and UNICEF launched in Bangkok today a joint publication entitled “Children in ASEAN: 30 Years of the Convention on the Rights of the Child” that features achievements and actions for children’s rights in the region. The report was released during the ASEAN CRC30 commemorative event co-hosted by Thailand’s Ministry of Social Development and Human Security (MSDHS) and UNICEF.
At the event, ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community Ministers and senior officials, civil society organizations, development partners and children representatives themselves discussed progress in implementing the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) as well as emerging challenges and new opportunities to realise child rights.
The report looks at what the next 30 years might look like for children in ASEAN. It highlights 10 actionable recommendations which include reinforcing regional systems and cross-border collaboration; ensuring no child is left behind; strengthening laws and policies; increasing public finance and social investment; as well as strengthening data collection, analysis and use.
Other suggestions are to ensure equal access to quality services; leverage innovation and technology; promote social and behaviour change; accelerate child-sensitive climate actions; and achieve gender equality..."
Source/publisher:
UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) (New York)
Date of publication:
2019-11-01
Date of entry/update:
2019-11-10
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund), Children's Rights - studies, ASEAN-Burma relations, Children
Language:
more
Topic:
Nutrition, Malnutrition, Health, Myanmar
Topic:
Nutrition, Malnutrition, Health, Myanmar
Description:
"High up in the Thangmual Hills in north-western Myanmar’s Chin State, Nu Lun dreams of her seven-month-old daughter growing up to be strong and clever. Like most mothers, Nu Lun wants the best for her child, but she is unsure about the right way to feed her little one.
Nu Lun lives in a wooden cabin with her baby daughter, husband, mother-in-law and 12-year-old nephew. She buys rice and oil from the market, but most of the family’s food comes from their home garden and farm where her husband works.
To learn about nutrition, Nun Lun attends the local women’s group run by the auxiliary midwife in Tedim. Her mother-in-law also influences her, telling her the things her baby should and should not eat and how to prepare the food.
Nu Lun’s daughter often refuses to eat new foods, struggling with the textures and unable to swallow them. So Nu Lun finds herself reverting to giving her baby girl just breast milk and rice soup.
“They tell us about the extra foods we should give our baby, but my daughter spits them out. They are too coarse for her, so I just give her rice soup and breast,” explains Nu Lun while cooking traditional Chin corn soup for the rest of the family.
Other mothers are apparently also confused about what supplementary foods they should give their babies at what ages. Struggling to understand the food charts, they worry about their children choking..."
Source/publisher:
UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) (Myanmar)
Date of publication:
2019-10-23
Date of entry/update:
2019-11-10
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund), Food Security and nutrition in Burma/Myanmar, Food Security in Burma/Myanmar - web searches, specialised groups, reports and statistics, Public Health, Children
Language:
more
Description:
"The Central Social Assistance Team under National League for Democracy (NLD) has held a ceremony for the first time to provide stipends to the children of former political prisoners who sacrificed and devoted their lives to political struggle and the life of the party.
This ceremony was held at NLD party head office in Bahan Township, Yangon on November 8, 2019.
State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi is the chairperson of the Central Social Assistance Team and the ceremony was held in honour of former political prisoners who joined hands with the party with firm belief in political struggle. In the ceremony, stipends were given to 92 children of former political prisoners who are pursuing studies at different levels of university, higher secondary, secondary and primary.
The Central Social Assistance Team gives assistance to former political prisoners for their healthcare, rehabilitation of their lives and stipend money for their children’s education but because of financial constraints the team still needs more funds for those struggling for their livelihoods and living in poverty..."
Source/publisher:
"Mizzima" (Myanmar)
Date of publication:
2019-11-09
Date of entry/update:
2019-11-10
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Children, Articles on the NLD
Language:
more
Description:
"A high ranking Myanmar health official has urged the public in the country to get their children vaccinated against polio and share the advantages of vaccination.
Speaking at a mass cycling event to mark the 2019 World Polio Day at the Palace Moat in Mandalay city in central region Sunday, Minister of Health and Sports Dr. Myint Htwe said extra vaccinations were given in August and October to protect children against polio, according to the ministry Monday.
Mandalay Region Chief Minister Dr. Zaw Myint Maung said the cycling event was aimed at increasing awareness of polio eradication among the public.
A total of 800 cyclists participated in the event.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has announced Myanmar as a polio-free country in 2014. However the polio disease was found again in the country as it failed to give vaccination to the children particularly those in the remote areas..."
Source/publisher:
"Xinhua" (China)
Date of publication:
2019-10-21
Date of entry/update:
2019-11-10
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Children, Public Health, World Health Organisation (WHO)
Language:
more
Topic:
Rohingya children, citizenship, identity, National Registration Cards
Sub-title:
Rohingya children caught travelling outside of Rakhine State without identity documents are being detained in vocational schools and rehabilitation centres in Yangon, where they rarely receive family visits.
Topic:
Rohingya children, citizenship, identity, National Registration Cards
Description:
"ON A Sunday night in late September, an old, wooden motorboat carrying 30 Rohingya Muslims disappeared quietly into the darkness from the shore near the Thae Chaung camp for internally displaced people, about 40 kilometres northwest of the Rakhine State capital, Sittwe.
Relatives of those on board prayed and waved as the boat pulled away into the Bay of Bengal. They were left undisturbed by the camp’s security guards, who only patrol the land entrance to the camp of about 12,000 people.
Among those who prayed for a safe passage was the mother of Ma Fatima, 16. (The names of all children mentioned in this article have been changed to protect their identities.)
“There was no moon that night and I was unable to see my mother, but I know she would have remained on the dock for hours after the boat left,” recalled the teenager.
Fatima was seasick for most of the four days before the boat beached near Nga Yoke Kaung in Ayeyarwady Region’s southwestern Ngapudaw Township, where those on board – 15 women, six men, eight teenagers and a boy aged six – were detained on the evening of September 26 while crammed into an SUV heading for the regional capital, Pathein.
Fatima said the SUV that picked up the Rohingya after the boat came ashore was badly overcrowded. “Some complained about the situation and made a noise; I think that’s why we were arrested,” she said.
They were taken to the police station at Ngapudaw town and charged under the 1949 Residents of Burma Registration Act because they had no proof of identity or citizenship..."
Source/publisher:
"Frontier Myanmar" (Myanmar)
Date of publication:
2019-11-08
Date of entry/update:
2019-11-09
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Children, The rights of non-citizens, Laws, decrees, bills and regulations relating to nationality, citizenship and immigration (commentary)
Language:
more
Description:
"A consortium led by a Chinese company has donated thousands of school bags and T-shirts to students in Myanmar's Rakhine state as of Friday.
Since Monday, the China International Trust and Investment Corporation (CITIC) Consortium donated 4,000 schoolbags which include stationeries and 5,000 T-shirts to 32 schools in Kyaukphyu township.
"We hope that the donation will create better learning conditions for local students and will contribute to development of basic education in Kyauk Phyu." Ma Chuanfu, deputy managing director of CITIC Myanmar, told the donation ceremony.
It was the second batch of such donation done by the CITIC consortium and so far, 7,000 schoolbags and 8,000 T-shirts have been distributed to Myanmar students from 63 schools in Kyaukphyu township, in collaboration with China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation (CFPA) Myanmar Office since 2018.
It was learnt that the third batch of donation which includes 2,000 schoolbags and T-shirts is set to be done by the consortium before the end of 2019..."
Source/publisher:
"Xinhua" (China)
Date of publication:
2019-11-08
Date of entry/update:
2019-11-08
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
China-Burma relations, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Children
Language:
more
Description:
"A high-level government ceremony in Sittwe, Rakhine State, marked the end of the Building on Quality Basic Education Programme (BoQBEP), which has benefitted over one million children nationwide, reaching some for the first time. The programme was led by the Ministry of Education with the support of the European Union (EU), Denmark and UNICEF.
The BoQBEP programme, which began in 2016, supported the Government of Myanmar to improve access to quality learning for disadvantaged children. A major achievement included the launch of the national Education Strategic Plan to guide the national framework for quality and inclusive education for all children in Myanmar. Direct support to children included providing kindergarten play materials such as books, puzzles and clay to all 70,000 kindergarten classes nationwide.
Since July 2017, BoQBEP increasingly focused on children in Rakhine State, supporting inclusive education for all children, irrespective of religion, ethnicity, race, gender or citizenship status in line with the recommendations of the Advisory Commission on Rakhine State..."
Source/publisher:
UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) (Myanmar)
Date of publication:
2019-11-05
Date of entry/update:
2019-11-06
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
more
Description:
" Thousands of protesters marched to a police station in Yangon on Saturday, demanding justice in a child-rape case that has sparked national outrage.
Police said this week that they had arrested a suspect in the rape of a toddler - nicknamed Victoria - at a private nursery school in the administrative capital, Nay Pyi Taw, in May.
Social media users have questioned the slowness and professionalism of the police response after the girl’s family filed a complaint more than a month ago, underscoring a lack of trust in authorities in a country still emerging from decades of military rule.A government led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi took power after winning the elections in 2015, but key institutions such as the police remain under military control and efforts to strengthen the rule of law have floundered.
Organisers estimated as many as 6,000 protesters gathered on Saturday at the Yangon office of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) wearing white T-shirts, some printed with the words “Justice for Victoria”. One banner read: “We don’t want any more Victorias.”
The protesters also called on the government to create a safe environment for Myanmar’s children..."
Source/publisher:
"Associated Press" (USA) via "Bangkok Post"/Learning (Thailand)
Date of publication:
2019-07-08
Date of entry/update:
2019-10-31
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Children, Children's rights: reports of violations in Burma against more than one ethnic group, Children's Rights - studies
Language:
more
Description:
"Only a few months ago, Myanmar was shocked with news of the rape of a three-year-old girl who has since been given the pseudonym “Victoria”. Victoria was raped at a private nursery home in May. Then in September, she was able to testify through a video conference and identify her rapist.
“When the court showed the girl the picture of the suspects, she was able to point out the individual on the presented picture, and she was so angry seeing these pictures that she stomped angrily at them with her heel,” Victoria’s lawyer was quoted as saying.
News of the rape sparked outrage throughout Myanmar and brought attention to the rising number of rape cases in the country.
In February 2018, Myanmar’s Ministry of Home Affairs released its previous year’s statistics on rape cases. The ministry reported that rape cases rose from 1,100 in 2016 to 1,405 in 2017, which includes a rise in rapes of adult women from 429 to 508 and rapes of underage girls from 671 to 897.
But more than that, the unfortunate tragedy that befell Victoria also helped to highlight the lack of knowledge regarding sex in Myanmar, as well as the urgent need to stop viewing sex education as a taboo topic but as a necessity.
Hla Hla Win, a former English teacher who founded Myanmar-based 360ed, a social enterprise that seeks to revamp education with technology, was recently quoted as saying that the case was “obvious evidence” that the country needed to seriously think of allowing its citizens to be exposed to the right kind of sex education..."
Source/publisher:
"The ASEAN Post" (Malaysia)
Date of publication:
2019-10-25
Date of entry/update:
2019-10-25
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Children, Children's rights: reports of violations in Burma against more than one ethnic group, Discrimination/violence against women: reports of violations in Burma, Women's rights
Language:
more
Description:
"As the civil war raged on in northern Shan and Rakhine or Arakan States, with no end in sight and ongoing bilateral ceasefire between the National Alliance – Burma (NA-B) and the Myanmar army or the military far from progressing, the ratification of Myanmar on UN Treaty Banning Use of Child Soldiers is a welcome move for the country. The Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict (CRC-OPAC) aims to protect children from recruitment and use in hostilities was adopted by the General Assembly on 25 May 2000 and entered into force on 12 February 2002.
Myanmar became the 169th state party to the CRC-OPAC in New York on September 27.
Earlier, Myanmar signed the first protocol of the CRC in 1991. Two years later, it enacted the Child Rights Bill. In 2012, Myanmar signed the second optional protocol to prohibit child prostitution, child pornography and child slavery..."
Source/publisher:
"Shan Herald Agency for News" (Myanmar)
Date of publication:
2019-10-05
Date of entry/update:
2019-10-23
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Children
Language:
more
Description:
"As the civil war raged on in northern Shan and Rakhine or Arakan States, with no end in sight and ongoing bilateral ceasefire between the National Alliance – Burma (NA-B) and the Myanmar army or the military far from progressing, the ratification of Myanmar on UN Treaty Banning Use of Child Soldiers is a welcome move for the country. The Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict (CRC-OPAC) aims to protect children from recruitment and use in hostilities was adopted by the General Assembly on 25 May 2000 and entered into force on 12 February 2002.
Myanmar became the 169th state party to the CRC-OPAC in New York on September 27.
Earlier, Myanmar signed the first protocol of the CRC in 1991. Two years later, it enacted the Child Rights Bill. In 2012, Myanmar signed the second optional protocol to prohibit child prostitution, child pornography and child slavery..."
Source/publisher:
"Shan Herald Agency for News" (Myanmar)
Date of publication:
2019-10-05
Date of entry/update:
2019-10-23
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Children
Language:
more
Description:
"Technology could help Myanmar fight a rise in rape cases, says an award-winning entrepreneur who is using augmented reality to bring sex education to the socially conservative country.
The rape in May of a 3-year-old girl at a private nursery has sparked outrage, prompting thousands to take to the streets to demand justice and highlighting a paucity of sex education in the country.
It came as the overall number of rape cases in Myanmar surged from 1,100 in 2016 to more than 1,500 in 2018 — nearly two-thirds involving a child, according to local media quoting government data.
“The case was obvious evidence that we are lacking sex education,” said Hla Hla Win, a former English teacher who founded the Myanmar-based 360ed, a social enterprise that seeks to revamp education with technology.
“It broke the hearts of so many parents but it was also a wake-up call that we can no longer see sex education as a taboo,” she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone from Myanmar’s biggest city, Yangon.
The 38-year-old Harvard graduate was named one of 40 social entrepreneurs of the year by the World Economic Forum in New York last month for her work in transforming the way hundreds of thousands of students learn in Myanmar..."
Source/publisher:
"The Japan Times" (Japan)
Date of publication:
2019-10-18
Date of entry/update:
2019-10-18
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Children, Children's rights: reports of violations in Burma against more than one ethnic group, Discrimination/violence against women: reports of violations in Burma
Language:
more
Sub-title:
Voices of children playing resonate in the courtyard of a Thai monastery. The children are not outside, but their voices emanate from the window in the main building on the second floor.
Description:
"The building is a classroom, and the children are wearing school uniforms – green pants, white shirts.
Some of the students clasp their hands together with the traditional “wai”, and say “Sah-Wah-Dee Khrap” as one.
Many of the children are fluent in Thai, but none of their parents were born in Thailand. They are all kids from Myanmar parents working in the Mahar Chai district, which is home to the biggest fish market in the country.
There are just under 1.5 million Myanmar workers living in Thailand, according to the official 2014 census. Some work in retail and hospitality in areas like Phuket and Bangkok, whilst others make a living in factories or doing fisheries work, such as those in Mahar Chai. Some have been living in Thailand for over 2 decades.
Before the Thaksin Shinawatra government in the late 2000s, migrant parents had a hard time finding schools for their kids. Options were limited, without a Thai identity card, until NGOs started offering schools and tuition around 10 years ago.
Even then, when kids were able to study in Thailand, very few were able to pursue their education when they returned to Myanmar, having missed out on the local curriculum.
Source/publisher:
"Myanmar Times" (Myanmar)
Date of publication:
2019-10-18
Date of entry/update:
2019-10-18
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Children, Education and training of migrants and refugees from Burma, Education of migrants from Burma
Language:
more
Description:
"• Coverage of basic health services and measles immunization significantly increased in both Kachin and Shan States in September. A total of 10,360 people (5,201 females; 5,159 males) accessed basic health care services, 614 per cent of the monthly target, and 601 children 9-18 months (282 girls; 319 boys) or 178 per cent of the target were vaccinated against measles through UNICEF support.
• Child Protection and Education sections in Rakhine State provided a “training of trainers” to 30 Township Education Officers and four Township Social Welfare Officers in 10 townships, which will be further “cascaded” to a total of 600 teachers in October. Each teacher will then provide psycho-social and explosive ordinance risk awareness sessions in their schools reaching an estimated 64,000 children.
• The WASH Cluster, supported by UNICEF, supported Training in Data Management and Analysis through Excel in Myitkyina, Kachin to 35 participants including Government staff and local NGOs as part of a national programme to build the capacity of all WASH stakeholders.
• UNICEF and our partner trained 45 child protection staff in Rakhine State on the reporting and monitoring mechanism for the six Grave Violations..."
Source/publisher:
UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) via Reliefweb
Date of publication:
2019-09-30
Date of entry/update:
2019-10-17
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund), Children, Children's rights: resources and organisations
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
517.09 KB
more
Description:
"Women and children lengthen their necks with 22-pound brass rings to 'look like dragons' as part of an ancient tribe in Asia.
It is a tradition in the Kayah state in Myanmar, formerly Burma, and makes the Kayan people distinct across ethnic groups in south east Asia.
Some women felt they were unattractive without the rings and others felt the pressure to wear them for visiting tourists.
The rings were used to protect people from being attacked by tigers and others claim they were a tribute to the group's 'dragon mother'.
Rings have also been traditionally seen as symbols of wealth and reserved for favourite daughters, as a more common theory.
Padung author Pascal Khoo Thwe told Channel New Asia that 'our mother was a dragon' and 'they have the same sort of neck'. He claims to have grown up with his grandmother wearing 14-inch high sets of rings.
Mu Lone, 88, told the Mirror how women felt they 'weren't beautiful without neck-rings' in her time..."
Source/publisher:
"Daily Mail" (UK)
Date of publication:
2019-10-11
Date of entry/update:
2019-10-14
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Karen (Kayin) State, Children, Women's rights, Discrimination/violence against women: reports of violations in Burma, Padaung (Kayan)
Language:
more
Sub-title:
Rights groups say group is being punished for trying to escape dismal camps amid severe restrictions on everyday life.
Description:
"A five-year-old child is among 30 Rohingya who have been arrested in Myanmar for attempting to travel to the main city of Yangon from western Rakhine state, where they were among hundreds of thousands confined to squalid camps in a system some rights groups have compared with apartheid.
Twenty-one adults from the group were last week jailed for two years under a law that bars using false identity cards after a one-day trial in which they were reportedly denied a lawyer, Human Rights Watch said.
Eight of the children have been sent to a “training school” in Yangon region while authorities say they are still deciding what to do with the five-year-old.
Thousands displaced amidst Myanmar violence (2:00)
“These 30 men, women, and children are being punished for simply seeking an escape from the daily brutality they’ve been subjected to for years,” said Brad Adams, Human Rights Watch’s Asia director.
The Rohingya, who are mostly Muslim, are frequently arrested for attempting to leave Rakhine state, where tens of thousands have been living in camps since fleeing their homes after communal riots in 2012..."
Source/publisher:
"Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
Date of publication:
2019-10-11
Date of entry/update:
2019-10-11
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Children, Discrimination against the Rohingya
Language:
more
Description:
"Almost one million Rohingya refugees are living in camps in Bangladesh.
For years, government-run schools have quietly welcomed Rohingya refugee children. But recently, scores of children have been expelled..."
Source/publisher:
"Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
Date of publication:
2019-05-22
Date of entry/update:
2019-10-10
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Children, Education and training of migrants and refugees from Burma
Language:
more
Sub-title:
Questions raised over efforts to give Rohingya children and youth formal education under Myanmar curriculum.
Description:
"On May 13, a group of Rohingya refugee education leaders had the rare chance to ask some of the questions that had been weighing on their minds for more than two years.
For the first time, they were meeting representatives from the United Nations and international NGOs tasked with providing education to about half a million Rohingya refugee children living in camps in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh.
Minutes of the meeting obtained by Al Jazeera, show how the community leaders questioned the officials about the slow effort to give refugees formal education, the absence of a Myanmar curriculum in the camps, and the lack of consultation with the community.
"Two years we have been living in the camp with no access to education, why is this?" said Khin Maung, a Rohingya youth activist who was at the meeting..."
Source/publisher:
"Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
Date of publication:
2019-10-08
Date of entry/update:
2019-10-09
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Children, Education and training of migrants and refugees from Burma, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
Language:
more
Description:
"Early [Introduction to ECI including definition and needs for ECI services, age range of children included and types of eligibility for ECI services and relationship to regular ECCD services for infants and young children.]
Early childhood intervention (ECI) services are intensive and serve children principally from birth to age three and up to five years of age. They are tailored to meet the needs of individual children with fragile birth status, developmental delays, disabilities, malnutrition, chronic health issues that affect their development, and atypical behaviours, such as autism spectrum, attention deficit and hyperactivity disorders. ECI services complement general ECCD services as presented in the National ECCD Policy. ECI services are more intensive and individualised that ECCD services in order to improve the development of children with greater developmental needs.
Research in many countries has demonstrated that ECI services greatly improve child development and also lower the need for and costs of services for child health and nutrition care, special education, and related child and social protection programmes.
In Myanmar, we estimate that at least 40% of children require ECI services for short to longer periods of time. At present, 35.1% of Myanmar children are moderately to severely stunted; all of these children are likely to have one or more developmental delays. In addition, at least 5% to 12% of the nation’s children will be identified to have disabilities, chronic diseases or atypical behaviours.
Over time, approximately 70% of the children who will be served will improve in their development, attain expected levels of development for their age, and will consolidate their gains within one to two years. Other children, approximately 30%, will have lifelong disabilities or other conditions, and ECI services usually greatly improve their development and help them to achieve their full potential..."
Source/publisher:
Government of Myanmar via Reliefweb
Date of publication:
2019-09-13
Date of entry/update:
2019-10-04
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Children, Children's Rights - studies
Language:
Format :
pdf pdf
Size:
5.2 MB 5.07 MB
more
Description:
"Myanmar has designated five priority project areas to implement child labour eradication programs, according to a decision revealed by the Working Committee for Legal Affairs of Child Labour Eradication here on Wednesday.
The five priority project areas are scattered in Yangon, Bago and Ayeyarwady regions and Kayin and Mon states.
Myanmar government has called for cooperation to eradicate child labour and implement it as a national duty, saying that the project involves everybody..."
Source/publisher:
"Mizzima" (Myanmar)
Date of publication:
2019-10-03
Date of entry/update:
2019-10-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Children, Child labour in Burma
Language:
more
Description:
"Myanmar has ratified the so-called “child soldier treaty”, the Foreign Ministry announced on Sunday.
Union Minister for International Cooperation U Kyaw Tin presented Myanmar’s Instrument of Ratification of the treaty—formally known as the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict (CRC-OPAC)—to the UN secretary general during the UN Treaty Event of 2019 at the world body’s headquarters in New York on Sept. 27, the ministry said. The instrument was presented via the chief of the UN Office of Legal Affairs.
“The significance of this protocol is that while it bars the states from using children under the age of 18 for military purposes, it also requires states to make sure all armed groups distinct from [state] armed forces ensure there is no military use of children under the age of 18,” said U Aung Myo Min, director of Equality Myanmar. The protocol was adopted by the UN General Assembly on May 25, 2000 and entered into force on Feb. 12, 2002. Myanmar is the 169th country to ratify the protocol. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs described the ratification as a further significant step toward the protection of child rights..."
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of publication:
2019-10-01
Date of entry/update:
2019-10-02
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Children, Children's rights: reports of violations in Burma against more than one ethnic group, Children's rights: resources and organisations, Human rights issues, UN human rights bodies and mechanisms
Language:
more
Description:
"Myanmar police have exposed a total of 191 human trafficking cases across the country in the first nine months of this year, according to figures released by the Anti-Trafficking Police Force on Wednesday.
From January to September this year, 556 traffickers were charged in connection with the cases and 279 people were victimized.
Altogether 25 people including seven children were victimized while 54 traffickers were charged in connection with 15 human trafficking cases in September alone.
Under Myanmar's 2005 Anti-Trafficking in Persons Law, people who smuggle women and children were sentenced to at least 10 years or up to lifetime sentence or fine.
Money or property received through trafficking will be confiscated by the government..."
Source/publisher:
"Xinhua" (China)
Date of publication:
2019-10-02
Date of entry/update:
2019-10-02
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Smuggling of people - Burma-Myanmar related, Trafficking: global, regional and national reports, Children
Language:
more
Description:
"UNICEF Myanmar commends the Government of Myanmar for ratifying the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict (OPAC). The ratification, which follows the enactment of the new Child Rights Law in July 2019, once again demonstrates Myanmar’s efforts to align national policies and regulatory frameworks with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child that Myanmar ratified in 1991.
Children bear the brunt of armed conflict worldwide, including in Myanmar. The presence of a dedicated chapter in the new Child Rights Law on the protection of children affected by armed conflict, coupled with the ratification of the OPAC, now provide a legal basis for the protection these particularly vulnerable children need.
The ratification of the OPAC also marks another important step by the Government towards ending and preventing the recruitment and use of children within the national armed forces, a commitment already under implementation through the Security Council-mandated Joint Action Plan signed with the United Nations in 2012, and which has led to major progress towards this end.
Welcoming the Government of Myanmar’s confirmation of the minimum age of 18 years for voluntary recruitment into military service, UNICEF calls on the Government to ensure that children enrolled from the age of 16 in military academies and vocational training programmes do not take any direct part in hostilities and do not commit themselves to long-term compulsory bonds with the military before reaching the age of 18.
UNICEF stands ready to support the Government of Myanmar in translating the commitments into tangible measures for the protection of boys and girls, and remains committed to continue working together to end and prevent all six grave violations against children..."
Source/publisher:
UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) via Reliefweb
Date of publication:
2019-10-02
Date of entry/update:
2019-10-02
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
more
Description:
"The UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, Ms. Virginia Gamba, congratulates the Government of Myanmar for ratifying the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict (OPAC).
Myanmar’s Union Minister for International Cooperation, His Excellency Mr. U Kyaw Tin, deposited the accession instrument during a ceremony that took place on the margins of the 74th General Assembly at the UN headquarters in New York.
“The international engagement taken today by the Government of Myanmar to better protect its children is a welcome step. It is a commitment to put in place all the necessary measures to protect them from recruitment and use by both its armed forces and armed groups active in the country”, said Virginia Gamba.
Provisions on the demobilization and reintegration of all children under 18 and children presumed present in the ranks of Myanmar’s armed forces are also included in OPAC, a commitment already under implementation through the Security Council-mandated Joint Action Plan signed with the United Nations in 2012.
The Special Representative calls on the Government of Myanmar to swiftly translate this commitment into tangible measures for the protection of boys and girls and to end and prevent all six grave violations against children, including the killing and maiming of children and rape and other forms of sexual violence..."
Source/publisher:
"Mizzima" (Myanmar)
Date of publication:
2019-09-30
Date of entry/update:
2019-09-30
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Children, Children's rights: reports of violations in Burma against more than one ethnic group, Children's rights: resources and organisations, Children's rights: standards and mechanisms
Language:
more
Description:
"Mobs of stick-wielding church-goers in Myanmar's northeast used to descend on dealers and addicts in a desperate effort to save their communities from a meth-induced health crisis sweeping the country.
But anonymous death threats brought the vigilante operations to a halt.
"It simply became too dangerous for us," says Zau Man, leader of the local Baptist church in Kutkai, a town in Shan State scarred by addiction.
Myanmar is the second-biggest producer of opium in the world after Afghanistan and is now believed to be the largest source of methamphetamine.
The multi-billion dollar industry outstrips rivals in South America to feed lucrative markets as far away as Sydney, Tokyo and Seoul.
Shan is the epicentre of production in Myanmar, with a network of local armed groups linking up with transnational trafficking gangs.
Kutkai sits between Mandalay and the militia-riddled town of Muse on the China border, a key entry point for precursor chemicals heading to Myanmar's illegal meth labs..."
Source/publisher:
"The Straits Times" (Singapore)
Date of publication:
2019-02-20
Date of entry/update:
2019-09-28
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Children, Amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS) - Myanmar, Burma: opium and heroin, Public Health
Language:
more
Description:
"The UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, Ms. Virginia Gamba, congratulates the Government of Myanmar for ratifying the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict (OPAC).
Myanmar’s Union Minister for International Cooperation, His Excellency Mr. U Kyaw Tin, deposited the accession instrument during a ceremony that took place on the margins of the 74th General Assembly at the UN headquarters in New York.
“The international engagement taken today by the Government of Myanmar to better protect its children is a welcome step. It is a commitment to put in place all the necessary measures to protect them from recruitment and use by both its armed forces and armed groups active in the country”, said Virginia Gamba.
Provisions on the demobilization and reintegration of all children under 18 and children presumed present in the ranks of Myanmar’s armed forces are also included in OPAC, a commitment already under implementation through the Security Council-mandated Joint Action Plan signed with the United Nations in 2012.
The Special Representative calls on the Government of Myanmar to swiftly translate this commitment into tangible measures for the protection of boys and girls and to end and prevent all six grave violations against children, including the killing and maiming of children and rape and other forms of sexual violence.
She further recommends the Government of Myanmar to refrain from enrolling children, including on a voluntary basis, into military academies..."
Source/publisher:
UN Office of the SRSG for Children and Armed Conflict via Reliefweb
Date of publication:
2019-09-27
Date of entry/update:
2019-09-28
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Children, Children's rights: reports of violations in Burma against more than one ethnic group, Human rights issues, UN human rights bodies and mechanisms
Language:
more
Description:
"A 30-year-old tutor has been detained in Mong Yaw, Lashio Township in northern Shan State, after being accused of raping two girls.
A senior police officer in Mong Yaw, who did not want to be named, told The Irrawaddy that the case was being investigated.
“From the interrogation, he told us that he raped the two girls but he could not remember the dates when he did it,” said the police officer.
The suspect will face charges of child rape and kidnapping.
The man was arrested on Sept. 20 after he allegedly raped his wife’s pupil at their house on Sept. 15, according to the Ta’ang Women’s Organization (TWO).
The victim said she had been raped before by the man, according to Pakyoul Jar of TWO, who said she had talked to the families.
The girl told her mother and the school was informed.
TWO said the man gave her a spiked drink and she fell asleep.
The girl reported that she was first raped in 2017 at the school.
TWO said the other victim reported that she was raped by the same tutor in June.
“The two girls did not know they were raped as they were drugged and asleep,” said Pakyoul Jar.
“The police collected the girls’ clothes and took medical tests to be sent to Lashio. They have spoken to witnesses,” she said.
The two victims studied with the suspect’s wife at her home. The man was also a tutor but not a teacher employed by the government, according to TWO..."
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of publication:
2019-09-26
Date of entry/update:
2019-09-26
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Children, Children's rights: reports of violations in Burma against more than one ethnic group
Language:
more
Description:
"An eleven-year-old Christian boy is now spending his days studying and playing football in a safe environment, rather than running into the jungle to hide from soldiers and gunfire, a local Barnabas Fund partner in Myanmar told us in August.
“Shein” is just one of 39 Christian children that a Barnabas-supported ministry has helped to escape from war zones or transfer from Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps in the conflict-ravaged south-east Asian country in 2019.
The children are now living in a safe village that has a school where they can study and churches where they can worship. They are making new friends and sharing their testimonies at local churches, said the Barnabas project partner.
In Shein’s home village there is no school or hospital and in the last month he was there, he was forced to flee three times into the jungle to hide from the Myanmar Army that has turned mainly Christian areas into war zones..."
Source/publisher:
"barnabasfund" (England)
Date of publication:
2019-09-17
Date of entry/update:
2019-09-18
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Children, Children's rights: reports of violations in Burma against more than one ethnic group, Children and armed conflict, Christianity
Language:
more
Description:
"•The UN Resident/Humanitarian Coordinator a.i., and heads of UNICEF, OCHA, and UNFPA visited Rakhine State from 19 to 21 August 2019 looking at both older, predominantly Rohingya IDP camps and camps for newly displaced.
• UNICEF has carried out 14 humanitarian assistance missions in Rathedaung and Buthidaung Townships in Rakhine State, reaching a total of 5,569 displaced and host community members, including an estimated 2,200 children.
• Distribution of Essential Learning Packages (ELP) and School Kits for crisis-affected children and schools started on 13 August, reaching nearly 9,500 children in central and northern Rakhine State.
• In Kayin and Mon States, UNICEF supported the Government of Myanmar to support more than 16,000 people affected by floods and landslides in August through provision of emergency hygiene supplies including kits and bleaching powder..."
Source/publisher:
"Reliefweb" via UNICEF (USA)
Date of publication:
2019-09-18
Date of entry/update:
2019-09-18
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund), Children, Children's rights: reports of violations in Burma against more than one ethnic group, Education in Burma - several ethnic groups, Public Health
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
1.27 MB
more
Sub-title:
Rahima Akter has become the face of the struggle of Rohingya refugees who want, but are not allowed to pursue education.
Description:
"Rahima Akter hid her Rohingya identity to enrol at a private university in Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar, but her dreams of pursuing higher education were dashed after she was suspended by her university earlier this month.
The 20-year-old from Kutupalong refugee camp has become the face of the struggle of Rohingya refugees who want to study, as Bangladesh does not allow Rohingya to enrol in schools or colleges.
Last October, she was featured in a video story by the Associated Press in which she talked about being a Rohingya and her dream to study human rights so she could raise her voice for her persecuted community.
Nearly a year after it was published, the video went viral after which she was expelled from Cox's Bazar International University where she was studying law.
"I was in college when the video started showing up on people's phones. Suddenly, everyone was asking me, 'Are you Rohingya?' Some people started a negative campaign, saying I should be sent back," said Akter, over the phone.
"I was hiding my identity only so I could study. I feel guilty but I did not have an option. Is getting an education a crime? she asked..."
Source/publisher:
"Al Jazeera English"
Date of publication:
2019-09-17
Date of entry/update:
2019-09-17
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Children, Education and training of migrants and refugees from Burma, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
Language:
more
Description:
"Schoolchildren in Baw Du Pha village, Myanmar, have found new reasons to get excited about going to class, thanks to a brand new school building constructed by Islamic Relief.
“Around 80 of us used to huddle in a classroom,” says thirteen-year old Mg Hla Myint, describing the makeshift classroom at her old school in Rakhine state.
The schoolgirl is one of 12,300 people living in one of Sittwe’s two camps for those uprooted from their homes by communal violence.
Thanks to Islamic Relief, she and her classmates now have a new school building with fit for purpose classrooms and brand new desks.
“We shared a small desk. When I moved, I would hit my deskmate’s elbows… [now] our classroom is spacious. I feel fresh throughout the day as it is no longer crowded. I’m so happy!”
The new classrooms can host a student-teacher ratio of 1:55, a huge improvement from the previous 1:90. Head teacher U Chit Swe commended the work of Islamic Relief, adding that children can now thrive in better learning environment.
Islamic Relief, which has been working in Myanmar since Cyclone Nargis struck in 2008, built the school with the support of Organization of Islamic Cooperation Humanitarian Relief Fund (OICHF)..."
Source/publisher:
"Reliefweb" via Islamic Relief
Date of publication:
2019-09-14
Date of entry/update:
2019-09-15
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Children, Human rights and education
Language:
more
Topic:
Myanmar migrant workers
Sub-title:
Labour and security officials are working together to get young Myanmar children back into education after their learning centres were forced to close in Ranong, southern Thailand, Thai Labour Minister MR Chatu Mongol Sonakul said.
Topic:
Myanmar migrant workers
Description:
"The minister was speaking after meeting with Myanmar’s ambassador, U Myo Myint Than, at the ministry on Tuesday.
The ambassador voiced concern that the centres had ceased operating after 32 Myanmar teachers were deported on August 26.
The Myanmar nationals – 31 of whom held immigration clearance papers and one a passport – were teaching at 10 learning centres in Ranong without a licence.
They reportedly applied and were registered to work as migrant workers. However, they took up paid teaching jobs instead, breaching the labour law.
MR Chatu Mongol said the 32 teachers were charged, fined 5000 baht each and then deported. The deportation left the centres with no one to run them, forcing them to close.
The labour minister said the ambassador was worried that the Myanmar children’s education would suffer..."
Source/publisher:
"Myanmar Times" via Bangkok Post
Date of publication:
2019-09-13
Date of entry/update:
2019-09-13
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Children, Children's Rights - studies, Migrant children and youth, Education of migrants from Burma
Language:
more
Sub-title:
A three-year-old girl who it is alleged was raped at her nursery in Myanmar has given evidence via video link at a trial in the capital, Nay Pyi Taw.
Description:
"The case of the toddler, who by law cannot be named, has caused outrage in the country. Campaigners have given her the name "Victoria".
Police say the attack took place in May. A school employee is under arrest charged with raping her.
But DNA evidence has been inconclusive and nursery staff dispute it was him.
Police say a medical examination carried out after Victoria's mother had noticed her injuries and taken her to hospital showed the girl had been sexually assaulted.
'Nursery rape' of toddler leaves Myanmar reeling
There have been widespread protests calling for justice for Victoria and for wider action to arrest an alarming rise in reported sexual assault, particularly towards children.
Myanmar (also called Burma) is still a predominantly rural country and in some communities village elders oversee complaints - the alleged victim can even be encouraged to marry her attacker.
Male rape is not even a recognised crime..."
Source/publisher:
"BBC News"
Date of publication:
2019-09-11
Date of entry/update:
2019-09-11
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Children, Children's rights: reports of violations in Burma against more than one ethnic group, Children's rights: standards and mechanisms
Language:
more
Description:
"CHIANG MAI, Thailand—Five civilians including three children were killed when mortar shells struck their homes in Kutkai Township’s Mawhit village in Shan State on Saturday.
The fighting erupted in Kutkai between the Myanmar military and the Brotherhood Alliance of three ethnic armed groups while the groups’ leaders were holding peace talks with the government in Keng Tung, eastern Shan State, on Saturday.
An 18-year-old woman and her 5-month-old daughter; and a 34-year-old woman and her son, 9, and daughter, 14, from Mawhit village, Kutkai Township in northern Shan State were killed by mortar shells and their homes were destroyed, according to Kutkai residents.
“Three of them died immediately from the shelling and two others died after arriving at a hospital in Kutkai,” said Daw Lum Nyoi, a Kutkai resident.
Three others were injured, of whom two were taken to Lashio Hospital.
“The sound of gunfire was heard since 7 a.m. in Kutkai Town, starting when we were about to take the children to school,” said Mai Mai, a Kutkai resident who is also a relief worker..."
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy"
Date of publication:
2019-08-31
Date of entry/update:
2019-09-01
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Peace processes, ceasefires and ceasefire talks (websites, documents, reports and studies), Non-Ceasefire Groups, Armed conflict in Shan State - ceasefires and ceasefire talks, Children
Language:
more
Description:
"Five civilians, including two children, were killed in northeastern Myanmar Saturday when artillery hit a village amid talks between rebel groups and the government to end the conflict.
Heavy fighting broke out for more than six hours between Myanmar’s military and the Northern Alliance rebel coalition near the town of Kutkai in the northern Shan state early on Saturday, according to local media reports and activists.
The Radio Free Asia Burmese service reported artillery shells landed in the village of Mawhit, killing three women and two children.
It added that three others were injured and taken to hospital in Lashio, the capital of northern Shan.
Lwan Nyel, vice-chair of the Kachin Literature and Culture Association in Shan state, told Anadolu Agency that three shells hit Mawhit..."
Source/publisher:
"ASIA - PACIFIC"
Date of publication:
2019-08-31
Date of entry/update:
2019-09-01
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Non-Ceasefire Groups, Armed conflict in Shan State - ceasefires and ceasefire talks, Children
Language:
more
Description:
"Health workers in the world’s largest refugee camp say they’re struggling to provide proper care for babies born to Rohingya women in Bangladesh.
More than 100 babies are born every day in Rohingya refugee camps in southeast Bangladesh.
That's where hundreds of thousands of Rohingya have sought refuge, since fleeing violence in Myanmar in the past two years.
Al Jazeera's Stefanie Dekker reports from Kutupalong Camp in Cox's Bazar..."
Source/publisher:
"Al Jazeera English"
Date of publication:
2019-08-28
Date of entry/update:
2019-08-31
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Children, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Statelessness
Language:
more
Sub-title:
U Kyaw Tin, Union minister of International Cooperation, submitted the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child to the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (Assembly of the Union) on Wednesday.
Description:
"“The objective of the protocol is to protect children from being recruited and used in armed conflicts. It is a very important international protocol in protecting children’s rights,” he said.
In ratifying it, Myanmar would promise to protect children’s rights during armed conflicts in accordance with international law, he said.
“By entering into this protocol, we can promote Myanmar’s image in the international community, and it will help us remove our country’s name from the list of those that use child soldiers,” he said. It would also protect citizenship rights.
“We will have to implement legal arrangements and other plans, and educate children and other underage people about this,” he said.
He also said that appropriate plans are needed to release those children forcibly recruited as soldiers, he said.
“Appropriate support is needed for the physical and mental rehabilitation and re-entry into society of the released children,” said U Kyaw Tin..."
Source/publisher:
"Myanmar Times"
Date of publication:
2019-08-30
Date of entry/update:
2019-08-31
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Children, Children's rights: standards and mechanisms, Laws, decrees, bills and regulations relating to the judiciary (commentaries)
Language:
more
Description:
"Authorities on both sides of the border have failed to stop the trafficking of hundreds of women from Myanmar to China, says a new report released by Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Thursday.
The 112-page report, titled Give Us a Baby and We’ll Let You Go: Trafficking of Kachin ‘Brides’ from Myanmar to China, documents anecdotal evidence from 37 victims of the trafficking trade who later escaped, and several families of trafficking victims. The women, originating from Myanmar’s northern Shan and Kachin States, were typically sold for between $3,000 to $13,000 after being lured across the border by the promise of good jobs.
Many of the victims testify to being locked up, raped and forced to bear the children of their captors.
The report’s author says that China’s now abolished one-child policy, which began in 1979, is a major cause of the current trafficking crisis because it created a gender imbalance in China. Forced to have only one child, Chinese parents often abandoned female babies or had sex-selective abortions in favor of males, leading to a shortfall in the female population of an estimated 30 to 40 million..."
Source/publisher:
"Time"
Date of publication:
2019-03-21
Date of entry/update:
2019-08-31
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Children, Women's rights, Racial or ethnic discrimination in Burma: reports of violations against several groups, Trafficking: Burma-specific material
Language:
more
Sub-title:
Child Rights Law Needs Further Reform, Effective Enforcement
Description:
"After years of discussion and debate, Myanmar has finally enacted a law to protect the rights of children.
Consistent with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which Myanmar has ratified, the law defines a child as anyone younger than 18 and provides all children born in Myanmar have the right to birth registration.
This is important, but other shortcomings need to be addressed. Myanmar should revise the law to provide all children with the right to a nationality and not be stateless – therefore, full citizenship rights. The children of parents Myanmar does not recognize as citizens, notably Rohingya Muslims, or who face discriminatory application of the law, such as Kaman Muslims or women trafficked to China, are denied Myanmar citizenship. Without citizenship, children have difficulty entering school, obtaining health care, and traveling inside the country as well as abroad. Those born in Myanmar often will be stateless, which international law tries to prevent..."
Source/publisher:
"Human Rights Watch"
Date of publication:
2019-08-27
Date of entry/update:
2019-08-28
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Children, Children's rights: reports of violations in Burma against more than one ethnic group, Legislation under consideration, adopted, amended or repealed
Language:
more
Description:
"The Advancing Community Empowerment (ACE) project supported by USAID is working with Mon National Health Committee (MNHC) in 18 health facilities within three townships in Mon, Kayin and Thanintharyi. Helping to support 25 vulnerable Internally Displaced People (IDP) villages with basic health care, antenatal care for pregnant women, and capacity building of health care workers.
Follow the MNHC team in Ye Township, Mon State as they help vulnerable communities with primary health care and provide skill-building training for 48 active Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs) helping to improve hygienic home-labor, providing antenatal screening and referring at-risk mothers to health facilities.
To date under the ACE project, MNHC are one of a total of eight Critical Service Grants (CSG) partners helping to reduce community vulnerabilities in southeastern Myanmar. To find out more about new grant opportunities relating to health, education & livelihoods services to rural communities in underserved and hard to reach communities in the southeastern region of Myanmar/Burma please visit the following link:..."
Source/publisher:
Pact Myanmar
Date of publication:
2018-11-26
Date of entry/update:
2019-08-21
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Public Health, Mon State, Children
Language:
more